Harry Potter and the Pernicious Story Bunnies
by zArkham
Summary: A collection of drabbles, test-of-concept chapters, and initital chapters of story bunnies I may write someday. Either that or I've written them down to get them out of my head so I can focus on my current stories. Many are cross-overs.
1. HP and the Magical Blue Box

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. Dr. Who is owned by BBC._

**DISCLAIMER THE SECOND: **Story idea © 15 MAR 2012 by Ian J. Alexander

**CHAPTER SPECIFIC COMMENTS: **This is just an initial drabble which would eventually be part of its own chapter. I'll be going back and starting from the beginning.

**XxXxX**

**What Has Gone Before**: Instead of Voldemort killing Harry like he does in Book 7, he drops him into an alternate dimension in the same way as Harry was in _Harry Potter and the Distaff Side _(**FFnet story ID: 3894793 by Clell65619 and used w/his permission**) Harry ends up with the 11th Doctor and Igdis right before they attempt to jump to the TARDIS in the episode _The Doctor's Wife_. Doctor Eleven, the Ponds and Harry have a bit of an adventure before dropping Harry off in London sometime in the 1970's to coincide to a Doctor Four episode to be determined later although it will be during the time when the Doctor was without a companion.

This fic hinges on the idea that Time/Space has twelve major "rivers" of which there are myriad of alternate tributaries of that river. A Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times because every time they regenerate, they jump to the next river of time. However all of the Doctors can intersect with certain 'fixed points in time/space' which bridge all the pillars of time/space. This plot-device is my way of explaining how every Doctor witnesses events which would seriously affect and/or negate things which happen to other Doctors. I mean does anyone really believe our world would be so similar to what it is now if the Daleks invaded in the 1970's? I mean absolute proof of alien life and evil life to boot!

Magicals only exist in Pillar 4 so Doctor Eleven has to go back to a fix point and let his Fourth incarnation help Harry. Obviously this drabble happens early into the story.

**CHAPTER ? – A FIXED POINT**

"Are you sure you do not want a jelly baby?" The Doctor asked.

Harry smiled. This reminded him of how many times he had refused Dumbledore's offer of a lemon drop. This smile slide off his face when he realized that he would never have the chance to accept again from his old mentor. "Come to think of it, I think I will."

The Doctor smiled and gave him a few. His face, which normally had a look which reminded Harry of Luna or her father, turned grave. "Now Harry, I do hope you understand why we have to go to this point."

Harry nodded, "It's a spacey-wacey, timey-whimey thing isn't it?"

The Doctor chuckled, "It is at that. Just as Time Lords are constrained by certain fixed points in time and space, so too are people like you."

Harry frowned, "Children of Destiny." The future Doctor had explained it to him. Harry thought it was bad that Rory, a man who waited 2,000 years to see his love again, felt Harry had gotten a raw deal.

The Doctor nodded as he adjusted one of the many incomprehensible devices on the control panel of the TARDIS. "I wish I could take you some place more pleasant. Perhaps a place where your parents still lived. However your body is filled will inter-dimensional energy and the _where_ I'm taking you is the only place where you can go. In fact, the _when _is the only place I can take you."

"The _when_ of when I die," Harry said hollowly.

The Doctor paused before fixing Harry with a stare which again reminded him strongly of either of the Lovegoods. "Yes. I do believe this magical prophecy your life-line is tied to demands it. Sadly I never had much desire to study magic and its ramifications."

Harry shrugged, "You have the whole universe to explore. If I had a magical blue box which could go anywhere in time and space, I wouldn't just hang out around here either."

The Doctor smiled, "Exactly! Although I must admit it might be interesting if I could keep your around. Rather odd to be in the TARDIS by myself. I hadn't realized how quiet it could be."

Harry laughed, "I'd love to be your sidekick Doctor but it seems Fate hates me."

A beeping caught the Doctor's attention, "Companion actually. He through a switch and the wheezing, grinding sound of rematerializing filled the TARDIS followed by the gong. Alright Harry, we have arrived at the focal point. Are you ready?"

Harry shrugged, "Ready or not, I've never been one to delay the inevitable." He already had his invisibility cloak out.

"Now you are sure this is where you want to be left?" The Doctor asked.

Harry nodded, "If things play out the way they should, being here will allow me to right a wrong which has been a long time in coming!"

The Doctor continued to read a screen for a moment; his face lit blue by the reflection from the screen with a look of concentration. He straightened up and came over to Harry. Never a tall boy, the Doctor towered over Harry.

The Doctor put his hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry, as you know, a Time-Lord's later incarnation cannot remember many things which have happened till it happens. In many ways, we of Galifrey live twelve lives _concurrently_. If there is one mistake people make in regards to Time-Lord's is to think of us living linearly. In a way, you didn't meet a 'future' me but an adjacent me who just happens to have many of my memories."

Harry nodded. He didn't understand where the Doctor was going but being around the future/adjacent Doctor had taught him pretty quickly that the Doctor rarely made a point directly.

"Once you step out of the TARDIS, it is likely we shall never meet again. Yet I find myself feeling that we shall meet again. Perhaps it is because you have already met one of my other selves but I cannot shake the feeling that somehow I or one of my other incarnations will see you again," the Doctor said.

Harry looked surprised, "But I thought magic only existed in this branch of time and space?"

The Doctor nodded, "It does, Harry. The Universe, however, delights in breaking its own rules. Remember that Harry! When all is dark and there seems to be no hope and evil will triumph over good, break the rules. Do the impossible! The Universe seems to appreciate and reward surprises." The Doctor's face broke out into the silly grin which reminded Harry so much of Luna. A pang of loneliness gripped his heart.

Pushing away the thought of his friends struggling against Voldemort without him, Harry nodded. His mother had done the he impossible and how it enabled him to do the same in regards to the Killing Curse. "I will remember, Doctor."

The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. Suddenly his mood shifted as it seemed to do every five minutes or so, "Now, off you go. I think I shall see about finding some of these lemon drops you speak of! No time to dawdle! Things to do and places to go."

Without a second glance, the Doctor went back to fiddling with the instruments on the console leaving Harry to look at the door which seemed to beckon to him. He put on his cloak and readied his wand as he went to see his new home for the first time. What would be different? What would be the same?

**DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES, LONDON, JUNE 4****th**** 1996 – EVENING**

Hermione coughed some dust out of her lungs and quickly looked around. The Death Eater who had had her by the throat lay stunned next to her. All around her were the sounds of spell-fire and taunts. She wished she could just lie back and have a kip since the adrenaline rush of being chased was quickly wearing off and she felt like she'd expended too much of her magic already.

Out of all the chaos around her, a motion caught her eye. Luna's wand was bobbing back and forth as if tracking for targets. The lithe blonde seemed oblivious to a wound which was rapidly staining her school robes with blood.

Hermione quickly crawled over to the oddly shaped stone obelisk the Ravenclaw was hiding behind. A muttered charm and the blood flow stopped. Luna glanced down for a second as if she had just realized Hermione was there.

"Oh my; that is ever so much better. Thank you Hermi…_**Reducto!**_"

It was odd, Hermione thought, to hear Luna's sing-song voice change to one of confident action in the span of seconds. A Death Eater fighting a witch Hermione thought was Hestia Jones gave out a cry and dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Hermione had a sinking feeling she'd be able to see Thestrals if she ever made it back to Hogwarts. Looney or not, Luna was nothing but thorough.

Hermione was about to ask Luna about Ginny when something caught her eye. Ginny had taken a purple curse to the chest and Hermione was worried she had been left to die in one of the outer rooms. This question, however, died on her lips as she caught sight of Harry and Sirius dueling Lucius Malfoy near the Veil of Death.

Watching the pair duel was incredible! She knew Harry was good but Sirius had been an auror before Azkaban yet they dueled as if they had worked together for years. It was almost as if James Potter was fighting through his son. The look on Lucius face certainly showed he did not expect such skill from an ex-Azkaban inmate and 5th year student!

An errant stunner cast by Tonks as she tripped over a fallen Death Eater struck Luna in the chest and she slumped against the obelisk without a sound. Hermione saw that Tonks wasn't going to be able to recover in time. "_**Expelliarmus!**_"

The pink-haired auror rolled and was back on her feet with a grateful nod towards Hermione. The Gryffindor didn't see it as she had already turned back to watch Harry. Intellectually she knew she should be fighting but for some reason she was drawn to the deadly ballet Harry and Sirius were dancing with Lucius.

A dance which abruptly came to an end when in the process of ducking a spell from Sirius, Lucius dodged right into a spell from Harry. The look of surprise and shock on Lucius' face as his head flew off his body mirrored the one on Hermione's own. Yet Harry's face didn't flinch as Lucius' body began to crumple as a fountain of blood erupted out from the severed neck.

Before the pair could track a new target, a green bolt flew through the blood spray and struck Harry in the chest. Hermione watched in horror as Harry began to fall, his eyes seemingly locking with hers as he fell into the Veil

A screeching cackle of victory rose over the screams from those who saw Harry fall. All of this was cut off when the Veil pulsed with power before a brilliant white emanated from it. This light was accompanied with a clarion sound as if Hell's bells were being rung. Order members and Death Eaters alike were blinded and stunned by the duel assault on their senses.

Hermione struggled to blink the spots out of her eyes as she worked her jaw to pop her ears so she could hear again. As she did so, a witch ran past her singing, "I killed Harry Potter! I killed Harry Potter" in an insanely childish manner.

Bellatrix LeStrange!

In an instant, Hermione's eyesight cleared and the thunderous ringing in her ears abruptly cut off. Without realizing it, she was on her feet and chasing after the demented witch. Her earlier fatigue forgotten. All she could think about was Harry Potter, her friend, was dead. The Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter was at an end and along with it might be the hopes of the Light.

Heedless of the danger and not knowing where she was running to, Hermione followed the sound of Bellatrix's voice till she finally came to a stop in the Floo Atrium. To her surprise she saw LeStrange twirling and singing in a twisted victory dance. A feeling so primal it burned welled up in Hermione.

"_**Crucio!"**_

With a squawk, Bellatrix dropped to the ground as Hermione poured energy into the spell. Incredibly instead of screams of pain, Hermione realized Bellatrix was laughing!

"Oh dear! The mu-mu-mu-mudblood is coming to mur-mur-murder me! Your righteous anger isn't enough to power the spell, dearie! You have to want to hurt me and revel in my pain!"

"_**Crucio!"**_ How dare the murderess mock her fury?

This time Bellatrix let out a cry of real pain. Even so a slash of her wand sent Hermione falling backwards to avoid it. She quickly rolled over to try to defend herself only to find Bellatrix's wand having a steady bead on her. Hermione knew there was nothing she could do; she was trapped.

"There, there dearie! I'll give you an E for exceeding my expectations. In fact I'll go so far as to give you a quick death since I'm in such a giddy mood. Old Lucy really made a mess of a task which should have been as easy as taking candy from children. My Lord does not take failure lightly and in his anger my Dread Lord can be terrible. Ha! Ha! But who needs that silly prophecy now that ickle Harry Potter is dead?

Bellatrix's wand came up a bit as if she was about to conduct a symphony, "You should thank me, my dear little mudblood, for allowing you to die so easily. My 'dear' husband and his brother enjoy little girls like you so very much." The demented smile on Bellatrix's face faltered for a moment to be replaced by a look of anguish. In an instant, Hermione realized that the brutality the LeStrange brothers were famous for obviously wasn't limited to just captives.

Suddenly the look on Bellatrix's face turned murderous, "No, why should the little mudblood not suffer like I suffered? Yes! I'll make you suffer! I'll…"

Bellatrix's rant was cut off when a spell shot out from the shadows from the other side of the Atrium. Both Hermione and Bellatrix looked on in shock as Bellatrix's wand arm was severed at the shoulder.

"Yes I think suffering is on the menu for tonight. It is what you deserve, you evil bitch!"

Hermione looked around widely for the spellcaster but couldn't make out where the oddly familiar voice was coming from.

Bellatrix, on the other hand, dove for her wand and cast a sloppy spell on her shoulder which resulted in her screaming in pain as the smell of burnt meat filled the room. She then staggered towards the nearest floo exit. She almost made it before being literally cut off at the knees by another spell.

In a ripple of fabric, a man appeared from under an invisibility cloak. "As much as I'd like Neville to do the honors, I'm not about to let you get a chance to slither away. _**Sectumsempra!**_"

Hermione gave an involuntary shout of horror as the spell seemed to change Bellatrix into a mass of bloody fragments. In the gloom, she couldn't tell who the wizard was except that he was young and wearing muggle clothes. His voice, however, nagged at her in its familiarity.

The wizard looked up and called out as if to the heavens, "Tom? You coming or what?" The wizard paused for a moment as if waiting for a reply. Finally the wizard shrugged his shoulders, "Alright…I guess the loss of the scar horcrux knocked him for a loop. Fine with me as I'm not really in the mood for a duel."

Hermione felt the blood draining out of her face. That voice!

The wizard turned towards her and walked out of the shadows with a lop-sided grin on his face.

Hermione blinked up at the hand which was being offered to help her to her feet. That hair! Those eyes! The holly wand! It was too much. Her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the floor.

The wizard blinked in surprise. "Oh bloody hell Hermione! You had to go and make this difficult."

**OoOoO**

The sounds of running feet made him look up to see a very startled Sirius Black and Remus Lupin come to a skidding halt.

The three looked at each other for a moment.

Finally Sirius spoke, "Harry? Is that you?"

Harry smiled, "Yes and no. But for right now, I'm the only Harry Potter you've got."

With a flick of his wand, he levitated Hermione off the cold stone floor. He looked at Remus who had a wild look in his eyes. "Yes Remus, I'm sure your nose is saying I'm Harry and not quite Harry."

The werewolf nodded dumbly while Sirius looked at his Marauder partner in confusion. It was dawning on him that Harry looked older than he should. That and he was wearing different clothing than he had on earlier.

Harry floated Hermione over to Remus, "Look guys, I have a tale to tell which if I didn't live it myself I wouldn't believe it either but for right now let's take care of business. Remus, I'd rather not just enervate her since I'm not sure if you should do that to someone who has fainted. Plus I know we've got wounded although Hermione certainly doesn't look like Dolohov cursed her."

Harry looked at Sirius, "Not to mention you look pretty healthy for a dead guy, Sirius."

Both men gaped at him. As Harry had come into the light, both wizards could see that Harry was indeed older than he should have been and his eyes had a look of one who had seen far too much death and destruction.

"But Harry…you got hit by the Killing Curse!" Remus managed to get out.

"Been there; beaten that, have the scar to show for it" Harry said, unable to keep from teasing the man.

Sirius shook his head, "Harry! You bloody well fell into the Veil of Death! I was right there!"

Both wizards where shocked at how this news surprised Harry instead of shocking him. "Really? Is that how the _me_ of here died? Well if he had to go then at least he went in your place." Harry laid a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "It's really good to see you again Sirius."

Sirius just gaped at Harry but Remus looked at him intently. "Wait, you said 'the me of here' died. That makes it sound like you aren't the Harry who fell through the Veil!"

Harry nodded, "No. As hard as it is to believe, I am not your Harry Potter. I'm from an alternate time-line. My Voldemort cast me out so he could never die. I manage to literally fall into some help and they brought me here. Apparently as a 'child of destiny' it's where I'm supposed to be."

Sirius looked doubtful but Remus nodded, "Is that why you smell like Harry and not like him?"

Harry shrugged, "That and I'm a few months shy of turning 19 and…" Harry cut off as he saw Hermione starting to stir. He gently floated her down to the floor and knelt beside her.

"Haaaaarrry?" Hermione said drunkenly as she fought her way back to consciousness.

Harry took her hand, "I'm here Hermione; you're safe."

Hermione opened her eyes. Her eyes locked with Harry's. "I'm dead aren't I?"

Harry chuckled, "Sorry Hermione, I doubt Heaven would be this gloomy and have cold stone floors. This can't be Hell since you're here."

Hermione looked quickly to Sirius and then Remus, "You're dead Harry! I saw you die! I must be in St. Mungo's!"

Harry squeezed her hand. "Hermione…yes you saw your Harry Potter die but I'm not him any more than you are the Hermione that kept me alive through six years of Hogwarts and a year on the run from Voldemort. But I'm here now; you're safe."

Hermione struggled with what Harry had said, "But…Harry…dead…older…Harry James Potter! What is going on?"

Harry grinned at the authoritative voice Hermione always used when demanding to know something. She generally used it when she was in the process of catching him and Ron doing something they shouldn't be!

"That, I believe Ms. Granger, is the question of the day!"

Everyone turned to see Albus Dumbledore watching them. Before anyone could reply, multiple floo terminals began to activate and aurors can storming out of them.

Harry saw Cornelius Fudge and his face went blank, "Headmaster, if I may, you need to head that berk off. Since Voldemort doesn't look like he's going to show, Fudge doesn't have proof of him returning. I need you to make me a portkey like you did last time. Send me to the Infirmary and I'll have Madame Pomfrey check out Hermione."

Dumbledore stared at Harry and at the first hint of itching behind his eyes, Harry broke eye contact. "We don't have time for you to try to use legilimency on me! Do you want to explain a 18 year old Harry Potter to Fudge? Or the fact that without proof of Voldemort you're still a wanted man? Plus I need to take Sirius with me!" Sirius wagged his tail in agreement since he had transformed as soon as the floo terminals activated.

Dumbledore paused and then nodded. He took out a handkerchief, "_**Portus!**_"

Harry took it and wrapped his other arm around Sirius. "Don't worry, Headmaster; if there is one person who wants to stop Voldemort it is me."

Harry activated the portkey as Fudge angrily called out Dumbledore's name.

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Obviously the "new" Harry will be tougher but not a Super!Harry.

**Movie Paraphrase**: Catch the hidden tribute to a funny film in this drabble! (Hint: the film had two Monty Python alumni in it)

**Where from here**? Obviously Harry knows where all the Horcruxes are. That and his scar isn't a horcrux for the Voldemort here. So Voldemort is going to rapidly loose all his ties except for Nagini. What's a Dark Lord to do? That and not only are many of his Death Eaters are in Azkaban, Lucius and Bellatrix are dead! Right now I have an idea that Voldemort, in trying to gain more power might disturb powers best left alone. Perhaps Pettigrew gets assimilated by the broken Cyberman by the Pandoricon. (Is it even there in this time river? Since the Doctor has yet to meet Rory, is he guarding it yet?) My take on the Cybermen will be much more like the Borg in that they will be more of a biological mix and not just a brain in a robot's body.

**Who to the Rescue**? Will the Doctor return (and which one?) or will Harry end up getting help from Captain Jack? The nexus in Cardiff might be a way home for Harry.

13


	2. HP and the Dragon's Plague

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. That goes for any concept from Left 4 Dead._

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_When the going gets tough; the tough go shopping_" –** Anonymous**

**STORY BUNNY NOTES**: Based on the Left 4 Dead series with a Harry Potter twist. In an effort to kill Dumbledore, Draco unleashes the zombie plague. (The Dragon Plague due to Draco's name) For some reason, only those with Black blood are immune although they certainly can be killed. Muggles become 'normal' zombies while magical become the special infected. Obviously Harry has to get to Hogwarts, find out what caused the plague and hope that the effects are reversible.

**CHAPTER ? – GOING SHOPPING**

**KENSINGTON GARDEN SQUARE ROAD, LONDON, MAY 5****th**** 1997 – MORNING**

"Remind me why can't we just have your house elves do this?" Franz asked with just a hint of peevishness. Harry noticed how his usually absent German accent came out when he was scared.

"I told you, what ever caused the plague is interfering with Dobby's and Winky's ability to apparate or whatever it is house elves do to pop around," Harry said softly as he looked out up and down the street. So far the road was clear of walkers. Trouble was the park across the street could easily have some lurking behind the bushes.

"Come on Franz, the mall is just around the corner. It will be a quick in and out. Besides it's been awhile since I went shopping." Sally-Anne said with forced cheer. She wasn't fooling anyone with it.

"I hate shopping," Franz said as he finished loading his bandolier with shells. Harry thought he looked like something out of a video game. Of course since he was a Squib he couldn't rely on magic like the rest of them.

"Well I hate cities so that makes two of us unhappy this morning!" Lionel said as he holstered his pistols and tested his wand holster a few times. Harry had to smile at the middle-aged ginger. His ease with technology was so surprising considering he was a Weasley.

"If we're all through hating things, let's go. Remember what we've learned; keep it tight, our foes can come from above and below and watch for the Specials. Constant vigilance is going to keep us alive. We go in, we get what we need and we high-tail it back here," Harry said.

He turned to Narcissa who was holding baby Jacob. "Cissy, I want you to monitor us via our radios." The older witch nodded gravely. Harry look over to where Tonks sat lazily looking like she was enjoying herself. "Tonks, just like we planned you'll be our air cover on Buckbeak if we run into too much problems."

Harry walked over and placed an arm on Neville's shoulder. "Nev, I know you are still shook up after your escape from Hogwarts but I need you and Albert up on the roof with Tonks. However remember to only start helping us out if we request it. The gardens and the greenhouse on the roof may end up keeping us alive and we can't afford to draw more attention to Grimmauld Place than necessary now that wards don't seem to keep the infected from noticing it. Can you do that for me Nev?"

Albert Burke punched the white-faced teen playfully in the shoulder, "Don't worry Harry, I'll make sure our meal ticket is okay. Besides you Gryffindors are supposed to be brave; Neville will be fine."

"I won't let you down, Harry!" Neville said softly.

"I know Neville; you never have," Harry said gently. He didn't like, however, how Neville was already sweating and shaking a bit.

Harry walked back to the door while drawing his sword and readying his wand. "Okay folks, let's roll. It's only three blocks and then into the mall. In, grab, out, back for chicken dinner. Let's do this."

**XxXxX**

"Fag's got Sally-Anne!" Franz shouted as he kicked an infected down the escalator before firing his shotgun.

Harry turned to see Sally-Anne struggling and screaming as the elongated tongue began to draw her up towards the upper deck. Harry slashed at the infected in front of him while bringing his wand up. "_**Reducto!**_"

The fag's head exploded and abruptly its entire body exploded in a haze of nauseating gas. Sally-Anne dropped back to the floor. A swam of infected came shambling down the upper escalator after her.

"Lionel, get ready to grab her!" Harry called to the red-head who was frantically throwing items into a bottomless bag. "_**Wingardium Leviosa**_!"

Sally-Anne floated up out of the reach of the moaning and screeching infected. Lionel's wand popped out of its holster and with a flick a wind brought her back to behind the protective counter.

"Bugger Harry! We need to get the fuck out of here! I think a lot of people used this mall as a safe-house before they all got infected!" Sally-Anne gasped.

"Harry shook his head, "Nope, we're going to clear as much as we can. Since the doors are still mostly barricaded it will keep more of them from coming in later." Harry began to cast cutting curses at the group which had gone after Sally-Anne.

"Harry, if I ever see my family again I will be sure to curse them for telling me there was work in England!" Franz called out.

Before Harry could reply there was a deep rumbling and the ground shook a bit. A piece of broken wall suddenly came up from the lower level and shattered about 3 meters past them. An angry roar soon followed.

"Lorry!" Lionel cried out in fear.

"I _**hate**_ Lorries!" Franz said as he rapidly backed away from the escalator.

Harry had to admit he had to agree with Franz; he was starting to hate shopping as well.

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Obviously the Special infected are going to have different names to reflect English slang! And yes, I couldn't stop myself from tossing in a Leroy Jenkins bits. =)~

4


	3. HP and the Most Dangerous Game

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**DISCLAIMER THE SECOND**: As far as I can tell, anything related to Aliens, Predator, Aliens vs. Predator is licensed by 20th Century Fox. Additionally the concept of Alien vs. Predator may be somewhat owned by Dark Horse Comics. Again no money is being made from this.

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_You are what you eat_" -** Victor Lindlahr**

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTES**: This was a plot bunny which hit me after all the channels around here started running non-stop _Alien_ and _Alien vs. Predator_ movies due to the upcoming release of _Prometheus_. I think it is a good start but I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it. The original title was in Latin but I figured few would get it. WorkingTitle: _Harry Potter and the Most Dangerous Game_

**DARK DISCOVERIES**

**BROKEN TUSK STATION, NEXUS POINT 6, RIGEL SYSTEM – DATE UNKNOWN**

Swiftspear's mandibles clicked in irritation as the console blinked at him and beeped plaintively. The pain in his back was bothering him more than usual and the stump of his left leg was cold again. It was work shifts like this when the old warrior wished he had died a noble death during the hunt which had cost him his leg.

A cuff against the console seemed to bring it back to full functionality. Other readouts showed him that the jump-gate was stable and ready. Now if he could just get the balky computer to accept the coordinates before launch he could take a break and see if he could get a numbing agent for his pain. Frankly Swiftspear didn't care if it made him look weak. He was at the point where if the Council felt it was time for him to go into the recycling tanks, he'd welcome it.

However the computer didn't want to play Bones & Bolos and began to blink and beep again. With a roar, Swiftspear lashed out and smacked the console with his fist. While old, he could still pack some power. A hiss of satisfaction escaped him as the computer seemed intimidated enough to return to normal and accepted the program he had fed into it.

With a grunt Swiftspear turned and began entering in the final launch codes and slaved the Nest Maker navigational system to the jump-gates launch queue. Without looking, he reached back and hit the launch button from the previously balky console.

His old eyes looked up to the view-port in time to see the Nest Maker launch and drift towards the jump-gate. With another grunt, Swiftspear got up and rubbed the point above the end of the stump of his leg. He paused to buff out a spot on the bone which served as the rest of his leg. Swiftspear might be relegated to duties not fit for a warrior anymore but the bone of the Trithlar he had killed reminded all that he once had been a feared opponent. After the bone gleamed enough for him, Swiftspear made his way out of the control room.

He never noticed the navigational computer had crashed again before the launch which had corrupted the coordinates to where the Nest Maker was to land. Instead of what was known to the native species of the target planet as Guatemala, the ship would touch down to the north and east in far cooler climates than the Hunters would prefer.

**XxXxX**

**RIDDLE FAMILY CEMETARY, LITTLE HANGLETON, ENGLAND – JUNE 4****th**** 1996 – EARLY MORNING**

The Nest Maker's sensors scanned the landing coordinates but could not find a match in its mission data files. The ship continued to hover in stealth mode while the computer did additional scans and tried to match the results with the corrupted files in its memory. Finally the computer's basic programming decided to initiate nesting protocols with the available geography.

The ship landed with a loud whoosh which caused birds to fly into the pre-dawn sky. Sensors continue to scan the area as hatches opened on both sides of the ship. Crab-like robots emerged, each carrying a large egg on its back. Each egg was placed in places near where prey was likely to move by. Their task completed, the robots made their way back to the ship. With another loud burst of thrusters, the ship rose and quickly disappeared into the sky leaving its deadly cargo behind.

**XxXxX**

Bertram Travers looked out the window and drained the last of his drink, "Come on Thad; it's dark enough to move."

Thaddeus Gibbons gave him a sour look, "I don't know why we had to wait till dark, Bert. It's not like the filthy Muggles around here ever come up here."

Bertram shrugged, "The Dark Lord doesn't want to take any chances of us having to use magic. Bad enough the Old Man knows of this area due to that Potter brat escaping last year. Now quit you're bitching and let's see if we can see what made that racket this morning."

Both wizards made their way out of the kitchen and out of Riddle Manor. The manor was quiet since most of the Death Eaters were away working on the planned ambush for Potter at the Department of Mysteries. Only the Dark Lord, the Carrows and the rat Pettigrew remained in the room which had become a sort of throne room for the Master.

Bertram lit a torch and then another before passing one to Thaddeus. It didn't dawn on either wizard that by using a real torch instead of an electric one that they were making themselves even more noticeable to the Muggles. Yet both wizards came from clannish families which had shunned contact with non-Magicals for centuries.

The pair made their way out onto the grounds and towards the cemetery. Alecto had wondered if the noise might have been from a dragon or perhaps a hippogriff herd drawn by the dark magic which had resurrected the Master. As Bertram neared the area, he could feel with a shiver of the dark power imprinted into the very ground. With only the light of the waning gibbous moon overhead and the flicking light of his torch, Bertram couldn't help but feel fear grip his heart.

"Hey Bert! Come over here and take a gander at this!" Gibbon's voice broke Bertram out of his reverie. The wizard sighed and made his way over knowing that Gibbon probably was going to point out a headstone with a name he found funny. It seemed like every time the man picked up the Prophet, the Quibbler or was in a cemetery he found a name he thought funny...even if he was the only one that did.

He found Gibbon kneeling by an odd oval-shaped object seemingly wedged between two headstones. It was a dark greenish grey and looked almost like an egg. Yet it didn't look like an egg from any magical creature Bertram knew of.

Gibbon looked up with a frown, "Don't know about you, Bert, but I've never seen anything like this. You?"

Bertram shook his head and looked around. A semi-open cemetery seemed an odd place for any creature to nest their eggs. Plus why only one egg and even more importantly where was the mother? Bertram switched the torch to his left-hand and pulled out his wand. He feared the Dark Lord intensely but the idea of being savaged by an irate magical creature defending its nest was a bit more of an immediate danger.

As Gibbon continued to inspect the egg, Bertram noticed an odd tracks leading away from the egg. Curious, the wizard followed them and quickly found two more sets of the weird tracks. Following one of them brought him to another of the odd eggs. He quickly backtracked along the other track and found another egg as he suspected he might.

Frowning, Bertram knelt and poked the ground. The tracks were unlike anything he'd ever seen. He wished McNair was here since he'd probably be able to take one look and know exactly what had made them.

"What the bloody hell?"

Bertram looked up at the surprised yelp from Gibbon. He realized he had ended up farther away from his partner than he had thought since he couldn't see him from where he stood. "Thad? What's up?"

"Bert, get over here! You have to see this! The egg is...Hey!"

Already moving, the scream which cut off with a rattle made Bertram race to his partner even quicker and thus didn't notice the top of the egg behind him open up.

Bertram skidded to a halt as he came upon Gibbon's body. He was on the ground along with his wand and the torch which was sputtering on the wet grass. Attached to the wizards face was an odd crab-like creature whose tail was wrapped around his neck.

Bertram turned with his wand pointed at the egg only to be surprised to see the top had opened up like an obscene flower. Looking back at his downed partner, Bertram was at a loss. The Dark Lord and said no magic, not even apparition unless it was an emergency. Yet it was starting to look to the panicky wizard that this situation probably would qualify.

The wizard grimaced at the thought of the Cruciatus Curse he was most likely have to endure but he levitated Gibbon up so he could grab him and side-along apparate to the potions lab. Bertram couldn't help but feel disgust as he got a closer look at the creature hugging his partner's face.

An odd scratching noise from behind him made him turn. Unlike his partner, Bertram didn't even have time to scream in surprise as another one of the crab-like creatures sprang from its perch on a headstone and onto his face.

**OoOoO**

Amycus angrily paced back and forth in the potions lab, cursing her luck and her brother.

She reserved the vilest curses she knew for the two fools Travers and Gibbon who had gone out the other day on a simple errand and had disappeared. With the return of the ambush party and last minute adjustments to the plan, no one had noticed the two were missing. Only after Lucius and the others had left had the Dark Lord noticed he was down two Death Eaters. A summons through the Dark Mark had no effect.

Pettigrew had been off feeding Nagini so it had fallen to her and Alecto to suffer the Dark Lord's wrath. Amycus shivered; she was still having the odd twinge and shakes from the Cruciatus Curse and was thankful the Master had sent her brother to go in search of the missing wizards instead of her. She always knew her proficiency in potions would serve her well!

Amycus was angry because now her brother was missing which meant she would be next to have to check the area. Deep in her heart she wondered why if there was a potential problem that the Dark Lord himself did not investigate. Was he not all powerful? Travers and Gibbon could have been set upon by any number of enemies who would be nothing but a nuisance to the Dark Lord.

An odd scuttling against wood caught Amycus' attention. It had almost sounded like Pettigrew in his rat-form. She knew when he had displeased the Master (which was often) the Dark Lord would have him transform and be hunted by Nagini. No one knew when the Master would tire of this and actually allow his familiar to eat the chubby animagus.

For some reason, however, the sound had seemed heavier in some way than the normal sounds made as the rat-wizard he fled the Master's serpent. Amycus looked up at the ceiling and raised her wand. "_**Lumos!**_"

By the air vent she saw an odd smudge. As she watched, the smudge turned out to be a liquid of some kind which was seeping out of the grate over the vent. Frowning Amycus flicked her wand and her chair moved against the wall. The witch stepped onto the chair and got a closer look at the liquid. It was a sickly green and had the consistence of honey.

Another flick of her wand and the grate came off. It was possible that Nagini was ill. Amycus knew her Master's anger would be terrible to behold if his familiar was harmed in any way. Perhaps if the serpent was ill and Amycus could cure it quickly, the Dark Lord would reward her or at least not punish her for whatever reason was keeping her brother and the other two Death Eaters.

Casting another illumination charm, Amycus moved her brightly lit wand into the vent. She fully expected to find a sick snake. What greeted her instead was a dark shape with a bright row of teeth.

Lots and lots of teeth.

She barely had time to scream before the dark creature lunged at her and dragged her into the vent.

**OoOoO**

He waited in the shadows.

One could be excused in thinking the creature was patient but in reality He was hungry but its purpose ran strongly through every cell in its body. Now was the Gathering; there would be time for food later. He needed a Queen and for that they needed the One with power who was somehow tied to the mark on the creature's left arm.

Nothing moved in the building since the One had disappeared. The creature who felt like the One had fled. Now only the drones and He remained waiting for the One to reappear. The creature did not know why He was sure the One would return but it didn't matter. The One would be made into the Queen and the hive would be born and He would be the First Male.

A soft pop followed by the thinnest of breezes heralded the return of the One. Double-jaws flexed and opened in anticipation.

**OoOoO**

Voldemort appeared into his throne room and almost immediately gave out a scream of rage, frustration and to his shame quite a bit of pain.

Damn that brat! He had been sure that by taking Potter's blood would have removed any chance the little fool could stand against him. Yet his soul had been burnt with the feelings coming from Potter when he had tried to possess him.

Worse is the Ministry knew he had returned in addition to the fools who had allowed themselves to be captured. Only faithful Bellatrix had escaped. Only Bellatrix had managed to blood the enemy.

Voldemort's face fell into an angry scowl. His Death Eater, even his Elites, had become soft in the year he had been disembodied. This latest fiasco showed he needed to put his plans on hold while he recruited new Death Eaters and allies. He would break the rest out of Azkaban and then ruthlessly whip them back into shape. They would rue the day they allowed six school children and Order has-beens defeat them!

Even before he saw the movement; Voldemort suddenly realized he was not alone as he felt the presence of the Mark. Yet instead of his wayward Death Eaters, Voldemort was shocked to realize he was surrounded by four creatures of the likes he had never seen.

Unknown or not, Voldemort's wand was up in a flash. Yet the creatures were even faster and Voldemort was struck dumb with amazement as he watched his hand with his wand fly away with a slice of one of the creature's tails. The others quickly jumped upon him, their talons biting into his flesh.

Still weakened by the encounter with Potter, Voldemort struggled to concentrate enough to apparate but a blow to the back of his head threw him into blackness.

**OoOoO**

Voldemort woke from a dream of horrible suffocation to find himself trapped like a fly in amber.

The Dark Lord, while groggy, quickly took stock of where he was. He was entombed in something which reminded him of the nest of the Transylvanian Wolf Scorpion, one of the more dangerous of magical insect like creatures. Yet they were a mere fraction of the size of the creatures which had captured him.

Looking around the chamber which Voldemort recognized as being the lowest basement of his family's manor, he saw others similarly entombed. Two were Muggles by their clothing as well as Bellatrix. They all had some sort of crab-like creature attached to their face. The others were Pettigrew, Alecto and his sister Amycus. These three all were dead with their chest blown open as if burst from inside. At their feet were more of the crab-like creatures which seemed dead.

Voldemort saw he too had such a creature at his feet. His quickly realized why he had been dreaming of suffocation as he awoke. A lesser being would have begun to panic but Voldemort knew no matter what was happening Death could not touch him. But what was happening exactly? What were these demons?

Voldemort's musings came to a halt as three of the creatures stalked into the room. The dark wizard had seen many things but these creatures almost defied description. The lack of eyes, the viscous drool, and the weird appendages growing out of its back seemed to radiate an alienness to the Dark Lord. Yet his sharp eyes noticed something which started to finally bring what was going on into focus.

Each of the creatures had the Dark Mark on their left arm.

In fact, the larger of the demons which had odd ridges along its head also seemed to have silvery metal edging many of the parts of its body especially the claws and sharp blade-like bone at the end of its tail. The same silvery metal he had created for Pettigrew's missing hand.

Voldemort realized these creatures had been born from the corpses of his Death Eaters entombed with him. Somehow these creatures had 'inherited' the Dark Mark from them just as the creature before him had absorbed the magical metal from Pettigrew.

Even before he felt the stirring and pain in his chest, Voldemort knew what was coming. He had been infected and a new demon would be born of his body. Again a lesser being would be cursing his fate but Voldemort looked at the new form born out of Pettigrew and realized if the being born from his body would be of him then it would be ripe for possession.

Seeing the primal violence and elegance in the demon's form made Voldemort smile even as the pain in his chest became worse. This new form might bring possibilities as well as an army of terrible soldiers the likes of which the world had never been seen.

Voldemort cackled with glee until the Queen ripped out of his chest and death released the soul from his body.

**XxXxX**

**Chapter Two Preview**: Dumbledore barely escapes to learn the lesson any curse-breaker knows: never tomb raid alone!

**A/N**: I've never liked one thing about recent films with Aliens in them in that they show a face-hugger grabbing a person for a real short time and then the chest-burster pops out and then in like another few minutes the critter has matured to full Alien side. Nope, I figure it has to take some time. Even the day or so it takes in _Alien_ and in this fic seems horrifically fast.

**Where this is going**: My idea is Volde will possess the new Queen as well as 'eat' Nagini to reabsorb the Horcrux as well as use the ring to help stay 'human' enough to be one with the Alien Queen. Dumbledore is going to have to work fast to escape becoming an alien host. This will obviously set up changes to Year Six.

**Current Ideas**:

Queen Voldemort will make more drones out of Magicals but also out of Muggles. Yet I'm thinking there will be a rift between the magical and Muggle aliens. The Dark Horse comics show the aliens are all about resistance and overcoming things. So I think the "Muggle" aliens will steal away, create a queen of their own and create a new hive away from Queen Voldemort because they don't like being controlled even if it is supposedly by one of their own.

Obviously the Predators are going to show up eventually.

Since we know the Muggle governments know of them, this will cause them to get involved as well. Who knows? Maybe Harry will get an ally in Dutch who was conspicuously absent in the second Predator film.

Aliens take on traits from those they are made out of. I'm thinking nasty thoughts of centaur aliens and acromantula aliens! =0

The halls of Hogwarts with all the nooks and crannies seem ripe for one of those classic Get from Point A to B and try not to lose too many along the way. Perhaps Hogwarts will be overrun and Harry & Co (the survivors anyway) escape out through the Chamber of Secrets. (Volde can't speak Parselmouth anymore so only Harry can open the chamber)

Minerva-Alien with Cat alien animagus form! =0

6


	4. The Power of the Flesh

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_The universe never did make sense. I suspect it was built on a government contract._" **Robert A Heinlein**

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTE:** If there is one thing I've learned about writing from experience and from listening to interviews with the great authors like Neil Gaiman is no idea is wasted. A plot-bunny may wait years before being useful. This story has many similarities with _Eddie Blackadder: Wizard of Wales_, but also highlights many things I thought I wanted to do in that fic but I'm realizing it won't be the same. So will this be a full fic or will this chapter be a sort of test of concept? Not sure. Working Title is _The Power of the Flesh_.

**XxXxX**

**GENERAL NOTE**: I am not going to even try to do Fleur's accent. The best I'm going to do is have her occasionally respond in French like, "It is better this way, oui?" I'm just going to assume you've seen the movies or other venues where French speakers are speaking English. For that matter, I figure as a Quidditch star, Viktor's English is probably pretty good as well.

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ONE – THE OATH**

**RECEPTION ROOM, HOGWARTS – OCTOBER 31****st**** 1994 – EVENING**

"The boy is obviously lying, Headmaster. This reeks of the type of stunts his arrogant father used to pull," Snape's words were riddled with contempt.

"Yeah like the stunt where my dad saved your ruddy life your ungrateful plonker!" Harry yelled.

Snape normally pale turned red with a sanguine flush. But before he could do more than half pull his wand, the Headmaster put a firm hand on his wrist, "Severus, please. Tension is high enough as it is. Now Harry I want you to wait here with the rest of the champions. I am going to get to the bottom of this. You have my word on that."

Harry looked at the Dumbledore before giving a curt nod. The Headmaster kept his gaze locked with Harry before finally turning and shepherding the adults who began arguing again into the adjoining room.

Harry slumped into a chair and put his head into his hands.

Cedric came over and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Rotten luck, eh Potter?"

Harry didn't look up but just shook his head. "Without bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all! Every Halloween is just as crap as the next. I was really hoping this year would be different. Sure we weren't going to have Quidditch but I figure with all you Seventh Years trying out for the Tournament...well I figured I might have a quiet year for a change."

"You speak like this is somewhat normal for you," Viktor said in the silence that followed.

Harry laughed humorlessly, "Every year. Had to save my best friend from a troll that had cornered her in a bathroom my first year. Killed a basilisk my second year. Still don't know how I survived that. Plus when they say don't go into the Forbidden Forest, trust me, you need to heed that unless you like dealing with lots and lots of acromantulas. Then last year it was dementors and an irate werewolf."

"That is not possible! A basilisk? Non! You are, how you say, pulling our leg!" Fleur said in a huff.

Cedric looked at the two foreigners, "As much as I can agree it shouldn't be possible, I can vouch for Harry. I saw him fall 100 meters off his broom due to dementors coming onto the grounds. He turned around and learned how to do the Patronus charm. We all saw him cast a full corporeal charm during the next game.

"Mon deu!" Fleur exclaimed while Viktor looked stunned.

Harry shook his head, "Look I got incredibly lucky with the basilisk. The Headmasters phoenix really saved the day since he blinded it and then after I got bit stabbing it through its mouth, Fawkes' tears kept the poison from killing me."

Cedric laughed, "You make it sound like you barely did anything. I do know, however, that you pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat. Plus from what Professor McGonagall said the beast was what, 15 or 20 meters long?"

Harry hung his head, "Something like that."

Harry looked up to see Fleur and Viktor looking at him in amazement. "Look, I didn't enter the Tournament. My friend Ron seems to think I have these cool adventures but I've almost died every year here! Sure I've gotten out of some scrapes but I usually had help. I'm only a Fourth Year! How am I going to compete in this tournament? I don't even know what sort of tests will be on it."

The older teens looked at each other. Harry didn't like how grim their faces got.

"Harry, I apologize for my earlier comment. It is obvious you are no mere little boy. Yet you are right. The Tournament is very dangerous." Fleur said with obvious sadness in her voice.

Viktor rumbled in agreement, "Ja. Many competitors used to die. It is why they did not have the tournament for so long. I think the patch-work man with the eye was right; someone may have entered you into this so that your death would look like an accident."

Cedric sighed, "Someone like an enemy. Yeah and it's not like you don't have enough of those Harry."

Harry nodded, "Well at least I know that Malfoy didn't do it...or at least if his dad did no one told him. The look on his face as I walked here proved that."

"That and the ruddy git is lucky he knows which end of the wand is which. I've busted him enough times outside of curfew and each time he thinks that just because his daddy is on the Board of Governors that he doesn't have to obey the rules," Cedric said.

Before Harry could reply, the doors opened and a much more subdued group of adults came back in. Harry's heart sank at the look on Dumbledore's face to say nothing of the smirk on Snape's.

The Headmaster took a deep breath, "I have consulted with the others and I am very sorry to say that you will have to compete. It doesn't matter if you entered or someone else entered your name with or without your consent. The Goblet accepted the parchment and in doing so created a magically binding contract. Mr. Crouch here checked and without risking the magic and the lives of the other Champions, there is no option but for you to compete."

"So Mr. Moody was right; someone is trying to do Harry in," Cedric asked.

Dumbledore frowned, "Without any evidence to the contrary, I would say that does seem to be the most likely case. Quite frankly, as formidable as Harry is, he doesn't have the capability to beat the Goblet's magic and none of the Seventh Year he knows would put his name in for him even were he to ask. So yes, Mr. Diggory, it does seem Mr. Potter's name was put in to do him harm as well as possibly embarrass myself."

"So what if I refuse to compete? I mean the chance of me surviving this must be really small if someone went through this trouble to get me entered."

Barty Crouch Sr. cleared his throat, "I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, that would be very unwise. Breaking the magically binding contract of the Goblet of Fire would result in you losing your magic at the very least and due to your age it would most probably kill you."

"Come on Harry! Where is your Gryffindor bravery?" Ludo Bagman asked cheerfully.

"Yes, Potter. Let us see how you deal with things without your little friends to cover up your incompetence," Snape sneered.

"Severus!" Dumbledore chided. "I am sorry, Harry. You have to compete. At the very least we can hope your actions in the tournament will bring whoever did this out into light so we can divine why this has happened."

Harry just blinked up at the Headmaster. Seconds ticked by before finally Harry's face went cold. "So I'm just supposed to suck it up and be a good little soldier and compete even though from what Fleur and Viktor said that these competitions used to kill Seventh Year students all the time?

The adults looked uncomfortable before Bagman muttered something about the events won't be that hard or dangerous. The look Madame Maxine gave the man told Harry how hollow those words were.

Harry was suddenly overcome with a feeling of fatigue he had never known. He was tired of it all. He never wanted any of this. He just wanted something resembling a normal life. Harry certainly never wanted any of the Boy-Who-Lived crap. Every year got worse and at this rate he was seriously worried he'd live to make it to graduate. No matter how wonderful the magical world could be, it also seemed hell-bent on killing him.

Harry realized that in a choice between his magic and his life, he could get by without his magic. Besides, being a squib would at least allow him to still see things like the Knight Bus. He could even still brew potions. More to the point, he would be able to be with Sirius.

The thought of being with the only family Harry felt he had made the decision suddenly seem easy. Besides, if this was all a plot to kill him, there was no guarantee none of the other champions wouldn't get hurt in the cross-fire.

Harry took a deep breath and looked at Mr. Crouch, "Mr. Crouch. My being in the tournament not only endangers my life but could also endanger the other champions and maybe even the spectators. Therefore I refuse to compete."

Everyone in the room blinked at him in amazement before Dumbledore hurriedly said, "Harry it has been an emotional night. Now is not the time to make such a life-altering decision. Now let us get you to your dorm and I think Poppy can get you a Dreamless Sleep potion so you..."

Harry interrupted the old wizard, "No Headmaster. I mean it. I, Harry James Potter, do swear that I did not enter the tournament. I do not belong and I refuse to compete."

"Now see here! You have to compete! You are the Boy-Who-Lived!" Bagman said indignantly.

"No!" Harry drew his wand and even as the Headmaster tried to stop him, he raised it above his head, "I REFUSE to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament!"

Just as Dumbledore grabbed Harry's wrist, he was suddenly pushed back as a burst of white light burst forth from Harry. Every face in the room went slack with amazement and horror as the white light turned blood red and Harry began to scream a one-note shriek of pure agony. Even Snape and Karkaroff had never heard the like even from one held under the Cruciatus curse by Voldemort himself.

The horror abruptly stopped when the red light and Harry's scream stopped as if someone had flipped a switch. Harry fell to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. Dumbledore quickly tried to get to the body but skidded to a stop when an unearthly shriek came from Harry's scar and a black mist rose from it and assumed a vaguely human form before dissipating like so much smoke in the wind.

Dumbledore's heart felt like a troll had gripped it. That mist could have only been one thing and only one event could release such an evil.

The Headmaster knew before he even touched Harry's neck: the Boy-Who-Lived was dead.

**OoOoO**

Harry woke to the sound of birds and running water. He felt like he was lying on grass and everything smelled sort of like the Forbidden Forest after a storm. He cautiously opened his eyes. While not the Forbidden Forest, Harry found himself naked by a large stream running through trees.

Harry looked around and realized he could see perfectly even though he wasn't wearing his glasses.

Was he dead and this was heaven? Or was he in hell and any minute some creature would show up to chase him?

"Actually you are neither dead nor alive at the moment, Harry."

Harry spun around at the deeply masculine voice and blinked in surprise at what he saw.

Harry's first thought was he was facing the Celtic God Cernunnos leaning against a fallen tree. Whoever the being was he certainly looked like every description of the Green Man Harry had ever read about. The man was huge but not in the sense of Hagrid. His body was heavily muscled and beyond the long hair and full beard, was covered mostly with hair. Beyond the fact he was naked, what drew Harry's attention were the eyes which seemed to be that of a snake.

That and the stag horns branching out of his skull.

"Uhm...hello?" Harry finally managed to get out.

The man (being?) laughed. It was deep and booming. In that he sounded very much like Hagrid.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Harry son of James. You are closer to me than any brother or son could ever hope to be."

Harry looked around as a flock of ravens flew over the tree-tops. "So you said I'm not dead?"

The man nodded, "Nor are you alive. You have the unique opportunity to choose your fate, young Potter. You see, while your Headmaster has not told you, I know there is a prophecy regarding you and the one called Voldemort. This prophecy states only you can defeat Voldemort just as only he can defeat you. By trying to take your magic away, The Goblet of Fire has put its ancient magicks against the very hand of Fate. That a normal boy your age would die from this is another insult to Fate. So while at this moment to those around your body, you seem most sincerely dead, you are merely _mostly dead_. However as we all know, mostly dead is still partly alive."

Harry frowned. He recognized the quote, "How do you know that? You don't seem to be one to watch comedies on the telly."

The man laughed again, "I know it in the same way I know the prophecy. I hear everything said around you Harry. Whether you consciously hear it or not, I listen. It doesn't matter if you are asleep or not paying attention; I hear all and I've been listening your entire life Harry. Did you know the last words your mother said to you was 'Hold tight baby; Mummy is going to save you.'?"

Harry goggled at this, "How?"

The man rose up from the fallen tree he had been leaning on and slowly began to pace, "The how is a very long story which I am afraid I do not have time to tell. Suffice to say that I am a Lilin. Some have called me _the _Lilin although that is a title I would rightfully share with Lilith. We have been called many things by humans but the one you would most recognize is an incubus. Do you know what that is, Harry?

Harry nodded warily.

The being smiled, "I know you do because I heard the lesson. It was wrong of course as so much of what you are taught in Hogwarts is. Simply put, I once was a corporeal being just like you are. Yet in the fullness of time my race transcended our bodies. For ages we lived as beings of energy but then our very universe began to reach its end. Even the universe is not eternal, Harry. Now contrary to what your Headmaster said, even after untold millennia, we were not ready for the Next Great Adventure.

The being turned to Harry with a sly smile, "Life can be addicting, yes?"

Harry found himself smiling back. Whoever this being was, he seemed to be no threat.

The being took up to his pacing again, "So as our universe began to fade, we looked for another to flee to. We found yours. Yet we could not come through completely and we could not initiate the transfer. So we either tricked or bribed the earliest wizards with promises to summon us over. We were demons and while we did our 'masters' bidding, all the while we searched for a way to cross over permanently."

"In time we discovered a ritual which would allow hundreds of our people to cross over. Even if this was temporary, we felt the increased numbers would allow us a better chance to find a way to stay permanently. As luck would have it, the Veil of Worlds closed shortly after our ritual. To this day we cannot tell if this was the result of our ritual or the normal cycle of the Veil. Regardless of the why, suddenly my brothers and sisters and I were trapped and our life force was running out quickly."

"What did you do?" Harry asked. His DADA classes and textbooks and barely even mentioned the Veil of Worlds.

The being gave a rueful chuckle, "We did little. It was a very evil wizard who gave us the answer. One of our number, Agni by name found him trying to do a ritual to bind a demon to him. He disrupted the ritual purposefully thinking to possess the human while others would possess the six other wizards in the ritual. It worked but at great cost. Agni and his companions became the first true vampire."

Harry stiffened in alarm. "You don't look like a vampire," he said cautiously.

The being laughed again, "No I don't because as I said, I'm a Lilin. Of course the beings you know as vampires are mere shadows of the real vampires. What you think is a vampire is what we have named Nosferatu." The being shrugged its shoulders, "Bah! They are in many ways just magically animated corpses; always hungering for blood to keep Death at bay."

The man ran a hand through his beard thoughtfully which reminded Harry of strongly of Dumbledore. "Sadly the ritual Agni disrupted made use of a singular magical artifact so the rest of us could not replicate the event. Yet it was Lilith who divined a way we might copy the process in a different level. She and I finally mastered the way where we would graft ourselves into witches and wizards. We would not be fully conscious but we would still exist."

"And you are?" Harry asked.

The being laughed again, "I am sorry Harry. I have been in your body all of your life and you do not even know my name." The Lilin bowed low, "I am Samael at your service."

Harry noted how he said it in the old way: Sah-may-ale.

"So, young Potter, the rest of my brethren took up into bodies. For centuries our energy has transferred from body to body. All this time we are the whisper in the back of the mind, urging our hosts one way or the other. Always protecting them. For someday the Veil of Worlds will reopen and we can return to our universe and then…" Samael paused, "Ah but I digress. The fate of my people is probably centuries away and we do not have time to talk of maybes."

"Why are you in my body?" Harry asked.

Samael laughed ruefully, "Because you are the only male from the Black family left who is not tainted like that whelp Malfoy."

Harry frowned in confusion, "But I'm a Potter! Plus what about Sirius? With all the Purebloods inbreeding, I can't be the only one left!"

Samael smiled, "Very good Harry. Very well reasoned. Again, long story, not enough time. For now there is blood and there is _the_ Blood. Not every child has the potential outside a direct line. The Potters have been marrying in and out of the Black families for hundreds of years, often at our subtle urgings. Your own mother had a Black ancestor. We Lilin are tied to certain blood lines. I have been closely associated with the Black family now for over two thousand years."

Samael bent and took up a stone and skipped it across the water. It hit a tree on the other side and startled the birds in it into the sky. "As for Sirius, well someone was poisoning him slowly during his years in Azkaban which has rendered him sterile. It was most probably an agent working for Lord Malfoy who knew with Sirius unable to produce an heir would mean Draco would become the next Lord Black. Thus the part of me which was in him had to leave about ten years ago. In fact when you were born, my life-force was spread over six men. By the end of the War it was down to you and Sirius. Now you are the sole vessel for all of my power."

Samael turned to Harry, "My presence and power is another reason why you are not dead. The Goblet of Fire cannot touch me and I refuse to let you die. I have kept you alive in so many ways over the years. My magicks kept you from death from starvation and neglect growing up. It kept you from being completely malnourished and developmentally stunted. It was my magic that kept you alive long enough for Fawkes to cry his tears of healing. Last year, it was my magic boosting yours so you could drive off the dementors."

Harry mind reeled at this. All this time he had wondered how he could have survived the hell the Dursleys had put him through. He had seen plenty of news reports or read things in the library which showed how atypical he was.

Samael turned back to Harry and laid a huge hand on his shoulder, "Harry, you are a powerful wizard. You have been stunted in more ways because of your Headmaster. His so called blood wards are not working properly because Petunia does not love you. Thus they have been pulling their strength from you. With your 'death' they have fallen and do _**not **_let Dumbledore put them up again. You cannot fight Voldemort with half your magic bound.

Before Harry could speak, a chilly wind blew through the trees.

Samael sighed, "Our time is ending. Harry, you must understand that as my host, you have access to wondrous power over your body. I am not sure how much access to your magic you will have with the conflict between Fate and the Goblet. Yet have faith in your body. I will try to help you as much as I can. We will probably never be able to communicate like this again but I can be that feeling in your stomach, that sense of danger. Trust your feelings and we can survive this together."

The world around them seemed to fade for a bit.

"What do you mean by power over your body?" Harry asked quickly.

In response Samael transformed into a half-man, half-snake. Harry recognized it as a Naga. From that form he shifted into various animals before ending up with huge batwings, ram horns and tough skin which looked almost like it was made from basilisk scales. "As you can see Harry, my body is mine to command. You do not know her, but Sirius' niece Nymphadora has a lesser version of my power due to my magicks influence on the Black line. She may be able to help you but know your power surpasses hers. Only your mind limits what your body can do."

"I'll be able to shape-shift?" Harry was amazed at this!

"Yes and with your magicks suppressed by the Goblet till the end of the Tournament, it will be your only way to survive the Trial." Samael said before looking up at the sky. The colors all around them were beginning to fade.

Samael grabbed Harry by the shoulders, "Listen Harry, listen well. Your curse scar was what was called a Horcrux. A portion of Voldemort's soul was embedded there. Dumbledore thought that is why you can speak to snakes but that comes from me. While you slept recovering from your first encounter with Voldemort your first year, Dumbledore rambled like the old man as he waited for you to awake. He spoke of his fear that the Dark Lord made multiple Horcruxes which is why he cannot die. You must destroy all of those before he can truly die."

"What?! The Headmaster knew all this?"

Samael nodded, "I fear that is why even with the Prophecy he has not done anything to prepare you to fight Voldemort. With a Horcrux in you, you would have to die for the Dark Lord to be defeated. I believe he was setting you up to be the perfect sacrifice. From birth you have been molded to go to your death to save others. As noble as your 'saving people thing' is, it is this very thing the Headmaster is counting on so that when the time came, you'd willingly give yourself up to death so the Dark Lord could be undone.

Before Harry could reply the world began to fade around him. He cursed his luck; he had so many questions!

"Be of stout heart, Harry Potter. I am confident that together we can weather this storm. These next few months will be critical," Samael said. Suddenly an evil smirk creased the Lilin's face. "Oh Harry, I'm sorry to say but access to both your full magic and mine is going to cause you to finally feel like a man. The blood wards have neutered you but now you will feel the power in your blood. I am sorry you will be so unprepared for this but I think you will enjoy learning what it is to truly be a man."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as everything began to lose form and become a formless white light.

Samael laughed, "You shall see Harry Potter! Look to the daughter of Fae and the Ganges! They will help you but I doubt even they will be able to contain you. Listen to the flesh Harry! In it you shall find power, pleasure and our salvation!"

"Wait!" Harry cried but it was too late as the world faded to a brilliant white and he lost consciousness.

**XxXxX**

**RECEPTION ROOM, HOGWARTS – OCTOBER 31****st**** 1994 – EVENING**

"Have you gone barmy lad? He's dead!" Bagman practically shouted.

Cedric continued his CPR compressions, counting carefully. Luckily Bagman was an easy man to shut out.

While a Pureblood, Cedric had made most of his time leaving near Ottery St. Catchpole and had made his way up the ranks to eventually become a Venture Scout. So while most Magicals felt that a person was death if they didn't have a heartbeat, Cedric knew better.

What had surprised him was Fleur knew CPR as well and that she had learned it in a similar fashion due to her involvement with World Association of Girl Guides. Despite the gravity of the situation, the idea that the ethereal Fleur was a WAGG made Cedric smile.

Cedric felt a hand on his shoulder, "My dear boy, I know it is hard to accept but Death is a part of life."

The Hufflepuff prefect ignored the Headmaster and nodded to Fleur who bent down to continue the mouth-to-mouth. "I realize that Professor but I'm not about to give up on Harry just yet."

"But my boy, he's dead," Dumbledore said with the same sort of incredulity in his voice as Bagman had had.

Before Cedric could voice the snappish comment on the tip of his tongue, Harry's body convulsed and his eyes flew open.

Cedric once again ignore the adults who were all shouting in amazement as he quickly got off Harry. The teen was looking into Fleur's eyes with a look of wonder. The older boy figured if he had come back from the edge of Death only to find himself lip-locked with the likes of Fleur that he'd be looking the same.

**OoOoO**

Harry leaned up and gave Fleur a quick kiss of gratitude before turning his gaze to the shocked face of Dumbledore, "Actually Professor I was only mostly dead."

Harry smiled at the snort of amusement this got from Cedric. Obviously watching movies and the telly was another thing Cedric did in the Muggle world. Of course other than Cedric and Fleur, it would have been better if the rest of the room wasn't staring at him like he was an Inferi or something.

Harry rubbed his chest and gladly accepted Cedric's hand as the older teen hoisted him off the floor. Harry turned to Fleur, "I apologize Mademoiselle Delacour for my forward behavior. In my defense I came to finding myself seemingly being kissed by an angel."

Fleur blinked at this and to her own amazement found herself blushing! "The pleasure was mine, Monsieur Potter. It is not every day one gets to use their skills to save the life of another. I had once thought my father rather addled for wanting me to become a Guide. I have since then found he knew what he was doing and tonight has once again borne that out."

"Now wait one moment! This boy was DEAD! Are we going to just sit here and let this…creature tarnish the memory of the Boy-Who-Lived? Albus! This abomination must be done away with!" McGonagall practically screeched.

Harry noticed most of the other adults save for Madam Maxine seemed to agree with her although it was hard to tell what Mr. Crouch was thinking. Even Professor Moody looked creeped out by his seeming resurrection.

Harry held up his hands, "Whoa! Whoa! I'm not a zombie! I just had a near-death-experience. It happens all the time in the Muggle world. As Cedric and Fleur just demonstrated, people get pulled back from death all the time."

"Nonsense! You died and we saw your soul leave your body!" Snape sneered.

"No you saw the portion of Voldemort's soul trapped in my curse scar leave my body. My soul is right where it has always been." Harry tapped his chest and smiled at the predictable involuntary cry from many present at the Dark Lord's name.

Harry turned to Dumbledore who was looking at him in shocked wonder, "Beyond the fact that it is possible to restart the heart, the main reason I'm not dead is because the Goblet doesn't have the authority to kill me. There is only one person who fate has potentially chosen for that task. Isn't that right, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore blinked at this and suddenly looked fearful. He grabbed Harry roughly by the shoulders, "How did you know that? How could you know that? Who ARE you?"

Harry jerked himself out of the old wizard's grasp, "You mean when were you going to tell me? Tell me that I had a piece of Voldemort in me and that you thought I was going to have to die before Voldemort could be killed? When? Right before you had me march off to die like a good little martyr? Is that the real reason I got stuck with the Dursleys? I mean growing up being told I was a freak who would be better off dead sounds like a perfect place to train someone to want to die. Considering that's exactly how I was feeling when I made the oath, it seems they did what you wanted."

"Mr. Potter! Calm yourself. What is the meaning of all this Albus? Was that black mist actually part of the Dark Lord?" McGonagall asked hotly.

Harry cut off whatever the Headmaster was about to say, "It certainly was. I'm betting it was just like the black mist which came out of Professor Quirrell after his body burned due to my mother's protection."

Both McGonagall and Moody goggled at this while the rest of the room looked confused. All except Dumbledore who had gone white. For a moment the room was still as Harry and the Headmaster looked at each other. As Harry met the old man's gaze, he felt an itch behind his eyes and with it he suddenly felt an uneasiness in his stomach. Suddenly remembering what Samael had said, he averted his gaze and the feeling went away.

"My boy…" the Headmaster began but was interrupted by the door flying open.

Harry thought he recognized the witch who was panting like she had been running a marathon. She had bright pink, spiky hair and wore auror robes. It might be she had run all the way from the edge of the anti-apparition wards. Harry couldn't quite place where he had seen this witch before.

"My word! Nymphadora what are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked.

"Don't call me Nymphadora! My name is Tonks!" the young witch said between pants. Finally mastering her breath. "Headmaster, the wards are down. They exploded and killed everyone in the house!"

"What wards? Killed who?" McGonagall asked.

Dumbledore make a quick gesture as if to silence the young auror but it was too late. "Why the wards around Number 4 Privet Drive." The young witch looked at Harry with a look of regret, "The Dursleys are dead."

**XxXxX**

**Chapter Two Preview**: More fallout from the tug-of-war between Fate and the Goblet of Fire. Plus Harry must confront Ron's jealousies and Hermione's questions. Yet does he know any of the answers?

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Characters write themselves and I found the Champions being much more accepting of Harry than I had first thought. I may change this but I sort of like that the Champions would be the best of the best and not sheep like the rest of Magicals.

**Short(er) Fic**: However the very nature of this fic would mean it would be shorter. Since Harry knows about Horcruxes early, then he has much more time to realize the fundamental flaw Dumbledore fell victim to: the idea that all of the Horcruxes needed to be destroyed prior to taking on Voldemort. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Even if at the end of this fic (around Voldemort's resurrection) there are any horcruxes still out there, it still means a Voldemort without a body is much better than a Dark Lord with one.

**Haven't We Read This Before?** Yes, yes you have. Harry being the host for Samael the Lilin Lord is a central tenant of my fics. It is part of my canon. Not all of my fics make it central but it does give me a plot device so I can realistically give Harry certain abilities without resorting to the very tired cliché where Harry finds out he has all these abilities through some test at Gringotts.

**Ships**: While for obvious reason this will be a Harry/Multi fic, for reasons which will become apparent, the main two witches will be Padma and Luna.

**The Trials**: The Tri-Wizard Tournament will have trials more in line with Harry Potter and the Temporal Beacon in that you have four tests based on Earth, Air, Fire, and Water along with the final test for Spirit/Magic.


	5. For Queen and Country

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion._

**DISCLAIMER THE SECOND: **Story idea © 20 JAN 2012 by Ian J. Alexander

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "**_Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale!_" -

**Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook**

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTES**: This story starts with a bit of a prologue bit when James and Lily are still alive to give a hint of the Victorian/Steampunk/ShadowRealms flavor of this fic. The main difference is magic is not hidden. Not only is this a steampunk type concept, it is also trying to see how science and magic might co-exist. Working title is _For Queen and Country_

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ONE – THE SUN SHALL NEVER SET**

**THAMES IRONWORKS AND SHIPBUILDING COMPANY, LEAMOUTH, UK –**

**OCTOBER 24****th**** 1861 – MORNING**

Lord James Potter, Knight of the Realm and Protector of the Faith looked out over the waters as the band played _May the_ _Gods Save the Queen_. Beside him Sirius Black fidgeted. While an important lord himself, the old dog never felt comfortable away from the Sideaways. However the christening of the _HMS Warrior_, the first of a new breed of warships was something he could not beg off.

His friend Remus had no such qualms as he tapped his cane in time with the music as he softly hummed the tune to himself. James smiled to himself; it was good to see Alice's invention had given his old friend back much of his vitality. The full moon had ended only two days ago and yet Remus was already level-headed and alert. Both he and Sirius had been surprised how focused the werewolf had been while the raced through the woods of the Potter estates. Even his bloodlust was cooled as he had only taken down one deer and had been content with the one kill.

Thinking of Lady Longbottom wiped the smile off his face. Frank was just as worried about Neville as he himself was about Harry. It was bad enough with Dumbledore speaking of a dark prophecy made to him but even Lady Ada's Arithmancers were telling of dark portents. As a child he had scoffed at the very idea that Muggle science could even ever close to magic but between the likes of Ada, Babbage and his very own Lily, James had seen that mathematics had a magic all of its own.

James smiled again, this time much more feral. The proof of that was all around him. The _HMS Warrior_ shone brightly in the sunlight while airships kept watch overhead. The warship bore not a single sail as it was driven by a new power. A power derived from the very Sun itself. Even the amazing airships above still needed sails to help even as they had steam driven propellers. Not so the newest crown jewel in Her Majesties fleet. Once again England had prevailed!

"Do not be too proud of this technological terror you have created, Potter." Sirius said quietly.

James turned to his friend with a quirked eyebrow. For all the laughter, drinking, wenching, gambling and general mayhem his friend was known for, Sirius was a Black and they were renowned for their shrewdness. Even before becoming an animagus, his friend could often read his thoughts like the most skilled legilimens.

"I know you are already thinking of ways the new ship will smite the foe abroad. More power to her and her gallant crew," Sirius said earnestly. "But the real foe is not abroad. With so many eyes turned towards the Union and the Confederacy, we cannot afford to lose track of what is important and that is and always is the rebellion against the Empire!"

"Sirius, I'm sure our forces shall prevail against the Maori and we've succeeded in putting down the Qing in China. With the Papists all dealing with the wars on the Italian Peninsula, our neutrality holding in regards to the Americas, I'm sure the Queen is not letting the danger of the Dark Lord slip her mind…or that of her Lord Constable." Remus said.

James snorted, "Alastor is to bloody minded not lose track of what is important, Sirius."

Sirius shook his head and gestured at the pageantry around them, "Look at all the waste here! Certainly all of this will help boost morale but I see so many assets which are need now in the field. The people's mood be damned! The darkness is coming and math and magic both are in agreement! Odin's Eye, James! You've seen the same reports I have! So did Frank and see how he and Alice took Neville to Africa because of it! The signs and portents are all there, James! Why do you refuse to see it?"

Remus made a warning gesture as many of their fellow spectators were starting to look their way. James, however, flushed and swelled up, "Lord Black, I am a Potter and we Potters have been in the front of defending this isles since we came to these shores when Atlantis sank. Neither the Celts, the Goblins, the Romans, the Vikings nor Grindelwald and Bonaparte together could drive us away for these shores! No matter the losses we have sustained, me and mine shall _**never**_ forsake these lands."

Sirius' haunted eyes seemed to pierce James. For a moment James felt a like cold wind blew across his heart. His friend shook his head. "I hope that shall not be what is inscribed on your family's tomb, my old friend." Sirius said softly.

Remus frowned and clapped his arms around his friend, "Buck up there, old man! Let us not devolve into bickering and arguing. This is supposed to be a happy occasion! You Blacks put so much stock into the Dark that you always turn away from the Light. The portents and signs all point to change. Yet here you stand, all filled with glower and doom when the omens clearly show that this change will rock our world. It is only you aristocrats who think this means the change will have to be bad!"

James couldn't help but smile, "Careful Remus; you're sounding like a Union democrat. Next you'll be calling for the end to the Monarchy and free elections to Parliament!" This elicited a chuckle from Sirius. Both knew of Remus' opinions on the current English form of government.

Remus grinned as well. He took the ribbing in the spirit intended, "Just you wait, my lords. There will come a day when merit, not blood will rule the day."

James grinned back, "Then it is good for me and mine that merit and ability is something we have in abundance." James looked over to where it looked like the last of the boring speeches were winding down. Gods Above and Below did it seem like Dumbledore loved to speak if only to here his own voice. As brilliant as the Court Mage was, he could drone on worse than Cuthbert Binns on a bad day!

Sirius glanced in the direction of the podium. "Merlin's beard! I thought the old gas-bag was never going to shut up. I say James; I bet you could inflate half of your fleet with the hot air that man can produce."

Both Remus and James smirked at this. James could not help but look up at the proud ships that patrolled above. While not as flashy or dramatic as his Wyvern riders, James was proud of his airships. To him, they were one of the pinnacles of British achievement. Let the Huns have their Juggernauts and the Frogs their Mold-Men! Neither could withstand the fury from above!

James turned his eyes back to the _HMS Warrior_. Like the airships, the vessel represented the might and majesty of the British Empire. However Sirius' words had left him filled with some measure of disquiet. The Dark Lord had been far too successful of late and there was already disconcerting news coming from the battlefields in the Americas. Once thought mere country bumpkins, the ex-Colonials seemed to be creating new magic and machines at an alarming rate.

James fondled the hilt of his sword. The Americas (like Africa) was still largely unexplored but already it was becoming clear that the continent held many secrets. Many going back to the time of the Old Ones. So often in the past it was England which had been in the forefront of finding and deciphering Hyperborean or Atlantean artifacts. Yet while British mages, technomancers and scientists were the envy of the world, James could not help but worry about the upstart Americans.

James looked sideways at the dark robes Sirius wore in stark contrast to the brilliant crimson uniform he himself wore. In a way, it represented tradition, order and continuity in the British Empire. Yet James had to admit the Old Ways often worked against progress. While guilds bickered over jurisdiction and masters complained about their apprentices being 'uppity' across the sea the Americans thrived without many of the constraints found in England. A few years ago, as a brash student at Her Majesties School For Magic at Hogwarts, he would have scoffed at the idea that the unorganized Colonials could ever hope to challenge the British Empire even if they had successfully bought their independence in blood. Now, a bit older and wiser in the ways of the world, James was worried.

Lord Potter sighed. Sirius was right about one thing; he had to stay focused. Let the Americans fall on each other. The Dark Lord was the pressing problem and if British Empire was to survive, the pernicious rebellion needed to be put down once and for all.

The sounding of trumpets acted on James before he could even consciously think upon it as he rose to his feet. As one the crowd boomed out, "May the Gods Save the Queen!"

James nodded at this familiar saying. The sun never set upon her Empire. There was no way he was going to let some jumped up Necromancer bring it down from the very shores of England!

**XxXxX**

4


	6. The Road Less Taken

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory_." – **Norman Vincent Peale**

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTE:** This story idea came about due to comments I had with The Mad Mad Reviewer after I reviewed his story in regard to his story _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ (5501817) where he makes some very good points about Snape and McGonagall. This led to the fact that Harry is supposed to be a Christ like figure yet he is being asked to save people who turn on him at the drop of a hat or if he dares to deviate from the script given to him almost from Day One by Dumbledore after his parents are murdered. For those who have read my one-shot, _A Different Path_, many parts of this chapter will seem familiar to include the chapter title.

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ONE - A DIFFERENT PATH**

**HEADMASTER'S OFFICE, HOWARTS, SCOTLAND – MAY 2****nd**** 1998 – EVENING**

Harry couldn't believe it. After all this time, he had survived only to have to die at the proper time. He wished he could hate the Headmaster but he was too numb to care. Harry sat in Dumbledore's chair and was silent for a moment trying to process it all.

It was bad enough there were more death's on his conscience. Remus had come through with Teddy with the news that Tonks and Andromeda had been killed by a strike led by Bellatrix LeStrange herself. Remus had showed up in time only to take his son from his mortally wounded mother and escape. Even in the face of the werewolf's grief, Harry had been hard pressed not to want to shout at him that perhaps had he been there, his wife and mother-in-law might still be alive. Worse was how Remus had just dumped Teddy off to the first witch at hand (that being Luna) and stated he was going to avenge Tonks' death before tramping off to coordinate the defense of the castle.

Harry remembered the look he and Luna shared. It was obvious to both of them that Remus didn't expect or even desire to survive the coming battle.

What was worse was almost to a witch and wizard, those showing up to help were all just out of Hogwarts. The final battle against Voldemort was going to be mostly fought by students, teachers and to cap it off, Harry was expected to defeat Voldemort. Only now he knew that defeating Voldemort was never something Dumbledore had planned for Harry to accomplish.

Harry looked at the sleeping portraits, Dumbledore's in particular as well as the new portrait of Snape, and pondered the future. If he was to die just to allow someone else a shot at taking out Voldemort, how would he or she deal with the expectations of Magical Britain after the deed was done? Would they expect their Hero to go off and die for them against some future Dark Lord while the sat back and did nothing?

After all that had been done for him, Sirius had died simply trying to save his godson. It was obvious to Harry now that Sirius had, in a way, gone to his death gladly. How different from all the witches and wizards sitting on their arse today while their own children prepared to face off against the biggest threat since Grindelwald. All waiting for the Chosen One to pull a rabbit out of a hat (or maybe the Sword of Gryffindor again) and somehow defeat the Dark Lord.

Finally with a sigh he got up. There was only one thing to do, the only thing he could do. It seemed he never really had many choices in his life and now he knew why. Harry finally saw why Dumbledore was always so insistent he try to have a 'normal' life or let Harry get away with so much: he knew Harry's life was going to be a short one. Perhaps this was the way the Old Man dealt with the guilt of what he was doing for his previous Greater Good.

Harry gritted his teeth. Funny how the Greater Good seem to always be shouldered by the Tiny Few. Given all that had happened to him in the magical world, Harry had to wonder if they were worth it.

Of course he knew he had to try. His own saving-people-thing demanded it. Harry had to wonder if this was a innate Potter trait or was it something carefully nurtured so his own moral compass would point him towards his eventual date with death?

He left the Headmaster's office and right as he stepped off the rotating staircase it occurred to him he should put on his invisibility cloak. The last thing he wanted to deal with was seeing Ron or Hermione. _Especially_ Hermione! He didn't want to burden them with any more guilt than he knew his martyrdom was going to cause. He threw the cloak over himself and opened the door…

…to find Luna Lovegood staring right at him as Teddy wriggled in her arms.

"You can take that off, Harry. I know it is you," she said in a soft but determined voice.

Harry paused while he tried to figure out how she knew to be waiting for him at this moment.

Luna frowned and reached out and pulled the invisibility cloak off him. She looked at it with wonder in her eyes, "To think I am actually holding one of the Deathly Hallows!"

Harry blinked at this before it hit him if Xenophilius knew about the Hallows then of course his daughter would as well. "Luna, I need that. I need to go…"

"…go to your death? Yes I know that is what you think you need to do. However you need another perspective on things. If there is one thing which the Headmaster never allowed you to do was actually think about things. Thus you simply reacted, just as he needed you to do. Come along with me." Luna said as she carefully used the cloak to further bundle Teddy's swaddling and started the staircase moving back up towards the Headmaster's office.

Harry could only stare as Luna was carried up the stairs. A part of him was still trying to come to grips with how she knew what he was going to do. Another part was noticing how pert her bum was in the Muggle jeans she was wearing. How had he never noticed this at Shell Cottage?

Harry hurried up after her only to find Luna humming to herself as she examined the silvery instruments Dumbledore must have repaired after Harry's explosion after Sirius' death. She gently bounced Teddy in her arms as if trying to rock him asleep.

"Luna, I…" Harry began.

"No, be silent Harry," Luna said in a surprisingly decisive voice. "I am not about to let the man I love march off to his death because of Dumbledore's insipid plan. You cannot be the hero you were destined to be if you follow the flawed path that Albus Dumbledore put you on. More to the point, just because Fate has marked you to fight Voldemort does not mean you have to do it on anything but your own terms."

Luna turned and blinked at Harry in the owlish fashion of hers, "Few of us in your orbit have had the luxury of being in our right minds and I think you should know more of what has been going on. Right now you need to think about what is best for _you_ for a moment before you throw your life away."

Harry blinked at this in surprise. He gawped at her as again one half of his brain tried to figure out how she knew so much while the other spun around in circles over the fact she loved him.

Luna, mindful of Teddy, carefully leaned in and kissed him. "Yes, Harry I love you and I do believe if it was not for some so called 'help' from a well meaning Molly Weasley, you might have returned those feelings last year. I have loved you since my Fifth Year and we were on such a good path together until Yule last year when I think Molly must have upped the dosage."

Harry shook his head in confusion, "Dosage? What are you talking about Luna?"

Luna looked cross as if she had expected better of him but then her faced softened, "I am sorry Harry. I forget you have been molded to accept things and not be suspicious of anything which is not Slytherin. Albus Dumbledore kept his plans so close to himself that people like Mrs. Weasley never knew what fate he had planned for you. So she has been trying to help her two youngest in life. Did you never wonder where your feelings for Ginevra were coming from? Other than D.A. meetings and Quidditch this year, you hardly ever saw her. One would have thought if there was a witch in your life you might fall for that it would be Hermione."

"Well…I…" Harry's voice trailed off. He and Hermione _**did**_ have a tight relationship. One he had often heard whispered was like two married people. Yet things had been strained a bit between the two. Ever since the summer of their Fifth Year starting when they were at Grimmauld Place.

Harry's eyes narrowed. At Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys. Now that he thought of it, Mrs. Weasley had often made little comments regarding Hermione and Ron as if to put a bug in his ear regarding her. Hadn't she also joked about 'helping' her relationship with Arthur out with potions?

Come to think of it, his feeling for Hermione had been stronger and stronger after Ron had left. In fact, when Harry thought about it, Hermione seemed to reciprocate and it was beginning to be like old times between them and he had barely given Ginny a thought until Ron came back.

Harry looked up to see Luna patiently waiting for him to sort things out, "How?" He finally asked.

Luna smiled, "Where is your watch, Harry?"

"My watch?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry, your watch. The one you got for your seventeenth birthday. The one given to you by Molly Weasley." Luna said patiently.

Harry unconsciously looked at his left wrist. "It was smashed in the fight when we were ambushed in London after the wedding. I left it at Grimmauld Place. I never got around to asking if Kreacher could fix it."

Luna smiled, "And a good thing that you did. I am almost positive it had a charm on it to help the feelings you had for Ginevra strong even though you were no longer being dosed with Mrs. Weasley's potions. The same could be said for the necklace she gave Hermione before the wedding."

Harry remembered how touched Hermione had been when she had been given the necklace to wear with her wedding clothes. Yaxley had ripped it off in his attempt to keep a hold of Hermione in their flight from the Ministry.

"So…with these items gone, we started to get back to normal?" Harry asked.

Luna nodded, "Until Ronald returned. I am sure he has something on him which makes him attractive to Hermione. Even though the effects are weakening, she has been under the potion and compulsion for a long time. It will take a while to fully disappear without spell work to hasten the process."

Harry's eyes grew wide, "That kiss…"

"…was her going back to being under the Weasley spell. Hermione has never struck me as the type of a witch who would develop such a strong, romantic relationship in school. In fact from comments she made during D.A. meetings, it was her intent to not even thing of getting serious until her Uni years," Luna replied.

Harry thought about this before nodding, "Given how many heads she turned after the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, I know she had offers and she turned them all down throughout our Fifth Year."

Luna nodded in return, "And yet last year she not only fell for Ronald, a wizard who has constantly belittled her, but actually cheated to help him onto your Quidditch Team. These are not actions of the Hermione you know now is it?" Luna asked.

Harry shook his head, "No, you're right. So you're saying all through last year Molly was spiking those cakes and biscuits she was always sending us? Is this why I never thought about how odd Hermione was acting?"

Luna's face darkened, "In part, yes I think this is so. However I do know there were other charms at work. Charms put there by the Headmaster. I think he did not like how independent Hermione had become and the doubts she vocalized quite strongly after the fight at the Department of Mysteries. Prior to that she had been content to be the Headmaster's pawn."

"What are you talking about Luna?" Harry asked.

"I am saying that until the end of your 5th Year, Hermione has been reporting on you to the Headmaster. Oh she did not think of it as spying! After I happened to observe Hermione giving a quick report to the Headmaster during a late night prefect patrol, I asked her about it. She told me she was simply helping the Headmaster keep track of you because she was worried about you. Professor Dumbledore had convinced her, for the Greater Good, how you needed to be watched given how important you were."

Harry felt like his heart was caught in a vice, "I can't believe she was spying on me!"

Luna reached out and squeezed Harry's hand, "It bothered her from time to time. Did you really think she was given the Time Turner your 2nd Year simply so she could take more classes? It was a bribe or at least a favor which made her feel ingratiated towards the Headmaster. I am sure the Headmaster played upon her feelings for you to manipulate her into things. It was only after our fight together in the Ministry did she fully begin to question the Headmaster's motives."

"And that's when you think the Headmaster did some charms on her?" Harry asked.

A flitter of disgust washed over Luna's face, "Not just on her, Harry. I believe Ron, Ginevra, Neville probably had charms done on them. I know for a fact they were done on me."

Harry shot a quick look up at Dumbledore's sleeping portrait before looking back at Luan, "How do you know this?"

Luna shrugged although her face had gone pale, "Bellatrix LeStrange like to torment me and she never passed up an excuse to talk about the charms she found on my from the Headmaster. Some going back years and years. I expect if my father was still alive, I am betting he has had them on him as well. It might explain some of his odder behavior."

Harry frowned, "I don't understand."

Luna looked sad, "My father used to write quite often about some of the odder aspects of what happened towards the end of the war. He asked questions when no one else wanted to anything else but celebrate the end of the war. I believe after awhile the Headmaster felt he needed to silence my father's line of questions. I know my own charms made me spacey. If anything, my torment during my time at Malfoy Manor stripped those away from me. It feels like every minute my mind clears more and more."

Harry just stared at her. Only the slight snores coming from the portraits coupled with the occasional hiss from some of the silvery instruments broke the silence. Finally Harry shook his head, "He had this all planned out, didn't he? It's why he gave Ron the Deilluminator; he knew Ron would flake out but the Headmaster needed Ron in place."

Luna avoided Harry's eyes, "I believe much of your life has been one long line of lessons to put you on the path you were willing to walk to the end before I stopped you. You have been conditioned by your relatives to think everything is your fault. Every bit of family has been taken from you except the family, the Weasleys, that Dumbledore wanted you to have. You can depend on no one. If you think about it, from stories I have heard from Hermione, your own House Head has continually let you down. Why should you not go to your death? Dumbledore has made it so you have nothing and no one to live for while priming you to want to give others the future you feel unworthy of."

Luna finally looked back at Harry, "Given how both the Prewitts and Weasleys have been Purebloods for generations, I would wager Molly Weasley was made to potion Ronald and Hermione together on orders from Dumbledore." Luna looked at Harry with a look of sadness, "Regardless of her spying on you, Hermione felt she was doing right by you. If the fullness of the Headmaster's schemes were revealed to her, she would not let you go to your death as he planned. She would try to find another way which is why I believe she was made to fall for Ron."

Harry stood there and if he wasn't so stunned, he knew he'd be gaping at the lithe blonde. Her words seem to be breaking open doors in his memory to years of things which had bothered him yet he had always let slide. His resentment against McGonagall for never being there for him, the incessant carping from Snape, being thrown into the Weasley family again and again. Molly Weasley acting like she owned Grimmauld Place to the point of ordering Sirius around.

However every tie to the Potters had been severed or tainted like Remus. How even the magical world, which had seemed like a fairy tale at first, tasted like ashes in his mouth. Even while he agreed that Hermione had thought she was doing right by him, Harry still felt betrayed by the one friend he thought would never turn on him. Now he had to wonder how much of her steadfastness over the years was truly of her own volition.

Luna continued to rock Teddy, "You see Harry, your whole life has been shaped by the Headmaster to get you to walk into the forest to die at Voldemort's hand. All because one old, arrogant man never trusted anyone with what he knew. So no one could tell him his plan was stupid, reckless and pointless. So here we are. You have two choices, Harry. You can take refuse to walk the path the Headmaster has made for you since you were a child or you can walk out the door and into Death's arms at the hands of Voldemort."

Reality came crashing back down upon Harry. For a moment something like hope had flared in his heart. "Luna, as much as I don't like to find I've been manipulated my whole life, I can't change the fact that I have to die!"

"Of course you do, silly. We all die when it is our time," Luna said. "Even the Nargles cannot keep one from death."

Harry shook his head violently, "No you don't understand…"

Luna cut him off, "Oh I _**do**_ understand. It has been clear to me since the end of my Third Year what is going on. You think you need to die because your scar is an unintentional horcrux. Is this why you think you need to die?"

"Yes! Voldemort can't die until…wait, how did you know about my scar?" Harry asked.

Luna rolled her eyes which irritated Harry who was in no mood to be lectured. "Harry it is not all Wrackspurts and Humdingers at home. Both my parents were Unspeakables before my father's accident and my mother's death. Because of this, I have access to all manner of ancient tomes used in their line of work. Even with the Headmaster's spells, I still am a Ravenclaw and so I deduced how Voldemort had staved off death after listening to your tale of how he was resurrected. Once I knew about his use of horcruxes, your mental link to him had to mean you had a piece of his soul in you."

"So you know why I have to die!" Harry said forcefully.

"No, Harry. While you will die someday, there is no reason for you to throw your life away now. Tell me Harry, do you seem to think Voldemort cannot be killed till all of his horcruxes are destroyed?"

"Of course! Dumbledore isn't about to make a mistake like that," Harry replied.

"So if you chopped off Voldemort's head, would he be dead?" Luna asked.

Harry shook his head, "He can't die till all his horcruxes are gone so I couldn't cut off his head."

Luna smiled triumphantly, "So you think his horcruxes prevent him from dying or being killed? However you are making the same mistake the Headmaster made. Even Hermione, brilliant as she is and having a Muggle perspective, has made this fundamental mistake. You all seem to think you cannot harm Voldemort till all his horcruxes have been destroyed! The truth is Voldemort's body is, while a sort of magical artifact, just like his old body. Hit him with the Knight Bus, drop a sixteen ton weight on him or shoot him in the head with a Muggle gun and the body will die. Yes, his soul would continue but the body would not. Tell me Harry, what happened to Voldemort when you destroyed Quirrel's body?"

"It…it…well his soul came out and flew through me trying to escape. So you're saying…" Harry stammered.

"I am saying that if you kill Voldemort's body, his soul will be free but it has been free before and in that form it is easier to deal with." Luna explained patiently.

"Right, 'a mere shadow of vapor' is what he said," Harry said as his brain tried to grapple with this.

Luna cocked her head to the side, "Anyone can destroy Voldemort's body and defeat him. Only you can truly vanquish him completely by ridding yourself of the horcrux."

Harry's shoulder's sagged. For a minute it looked like he had a reprieve. "So I still have to die then."

Luna tossed her head dismissively, "Maybe and then again maybe not. Perhaps the Dementor's kiss would suck out the soul fragment first and we could pull it off before it took your soul as well. Perhaps there are other magical rituals which could be used. We might even stop your heart and let you 'die' and then revive you with Muggle means. There are many instances of people being considered dead and still brought back. How long does your heart have to stop before the soul fragment detaches? Plus is the fragment in your head an actual horcrux? Voldemort did not create it via ritual. It may simply be a fragment blasted into you and nothing more. Are you willing to go to your death without attempting to see if Voldemort can be killed if you destroy all of the known horcruxes?"

Harry blinked at this. He hadn't thought about his scar in that way. Just because he might have a piece of Voldemort attached to him didn't mean it would act as an anchor like a real Horcrux might. Had Dumbledore ever tried to test this?

Luna kissed Harry, "Harry, my love, there may be ways to trap Voldemort's soul if his body can be killed. Then you can live a long life filled with children and love. Then, in the fullness of time, your death will vanquish Voldemort forever. Do not think the path the Headmaster created for you is the only path. Reject that path and choose life, choose hope, choose love."

"I…I…" Harry stammered. It was too much to take in.

"Harry, look me in the eyes and tell me that you could leave me right now and go to your death. Could you do that knowing what you know now? Luna asked. "More importantly, why are you trying so hard to save those who have done nothing to save themselves? Where are the parents? Where are those sick of Voldemort's reign? Why is it that students are preparing to become soldiers? Your death will do nothing but save those who will not save themselves."

Harry just stated at the pretty blonde as he vainly tried to think of a counter-argument but given his earlier thoughts on just that topic, he wasn't coming up with anything. He looked deep into Luna's cerulean eyes and saw only love reflected back at him. Luna was right; he had been prepared to continue to his grave along a path the Headmaster had laid out for him long ago. To do so now would be an insult to his parent's memories; the people who had died in order that he might live. To continue on Dumbledore's path might be safe and comforting given his death would bring him peace but that would be taking the easy path and not the right path.

No, he would not take the coward's way out. He was Gryffindor.

Harry kissed Luna. "You're right Luna. I can't just throw my life away knowing what I know now. Or you for that matter." Harry kissed the lithe blonde again with a bit more passion. After a bit of careful snogging so as to not wake Teddy, Harry finally got a hold of himself and broke their kiss.

"So now what? I'm hoping you have a plan. Without Hermione I'm sort of rubbish at things which are more involved than me flying by the seat of my pants." Harry said with a wry grin.

Luna face brightened like the dawn coming. "Well I do have a few ideas…"

**XxXxX**

**GREAT HALL, HOWARTS, SCOTLAND – MAY 2nd 1998 – EVENING**

Hermione watched as Professor McGonagall directed Oliver Wood to take a mixed group of 6th and 7th Years to a higher vantage point so they could have a better field of fire if/when the Main Hall was breached. Hermione noted how grim all the students look even as they steadfastly moved into position.

Hermione nervously checked her watch again. Where was Harry? Luna had said she was certain she knew where he went and had gone to go fetch him. That had been almost a half an hour ago and Voldemort's deadline was fast approaching! She was about to set off in the direction Luna had taken when Harry's voice seemed to boom out from the ceiling.

"_Hello? Is thing on? Yes? Right! Okay this is Harry Potter with some important information. First off I have no intention of going off to sacrifice myself to Voldemort…"_

Hermione couldn't help but grin as the room responded to this in cheers.

"…_however I'm not sticking around to fight either."_ Harry finished.

The cheers abruptly cut off as all around the room people began to look at each other as if to confirm they had just heard what Harry said.

"_I know a lot of you are probably a bit confused right now. I understand that. The truth is I have found out my entire life has been a lie. A lie you all fell for because it was told to you by the late Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore. That lie was that I was the Boy-Who-Lived, the so-called Chosen One and I was going to save you all."_

Hermione looked at Ron who had let out a strangled, "Bloody Hell!" but before she could admonish him on his language, Harry's booming voice continued. "_The truth is a prophecy was made concerning the man born Tom Marvolo Riddle, the one who later styled himself the Dark Lord Voldemort. I may not be able to escape this prophecy but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow the path which has inadvertently trapped you all here with me. You see the Headmaster has this plan and it all lead to today. It was supposed to end with Voldemort killing me and then one of you killing Voldemort. I'm not going to tell you why this is so because I have come to realize that Dumbledore was probably wrong."_

Hermione blinked at this. What had Harry learned from Snape's memories? All around her the hall was filled with intense whispering.

"_So there are two reasons I've decided that I'm not going to play Dumbledore's reindeer games. The first is I'm not going to allow a battle to be fought involving a school filled with students and only a handful of adults. The second reason is simply because I don't feel most of your parents as well as a good chuck of you listening are worth saving especially the Weasleys."_

As one the witches and wizards in the hall blinked in surprise. The only sound was that of Ron yelling, "What?!" For her part Hermione was struck dumb at Harry's words.

"_Where are the rest of your parents? Why are you all here to fight and be killed by the Dark Lord alone? Where are those who have chafed under Voldemort's rule? Why are you being asked to overthrow the worst wizards since Grindelwald? Where are the adults to take you away to safety? All we have here is those who are preparing you for war while the rest of Magical Britain will wake to either a stunning victory over evil or a tragic massacre. Perhaps a bit of both. I will have no part in this. I am humbled the D.A. members came at our call but where are the adults?"_

Hermione found herself looking at Professor McGonagall who looked as if she had swallowed all of Dumbledore's lemon drops. Around her students seem to realize how few adult there were.

"_You've been told that only in-bound floo travel is possible, yet why are not the teachers creating escape portkeys? With Snape dead at the hands of Voldemort, she has control of the wards now. All of you could be heading off to safety. Given there is still time before Voldemort's deadline ends, I would hope you all avail yourself to this option. Don't be here when Voldemort shows up_."

Suddenly Hermione wasn't the only one looking at McGonagall. Gone was the pinched look on the elderly witches face. Now there was something akin to panic as dozens of students looked at her with betrayed looks.

"_Given how often Professors like Deputy Headmistress McGonagall have let me down during my time at Hogwarts, I know exactly how many of you are feeling. Trust me, the Headmaster manipulated me and you even more. Someday, fate willing, the truth will be told. Till then, I advise those of you half-bloods and Muggleborns to leave Britain like I am. You owe this land nothing but contempt given that is all we've ever got in return. For my part, I'm leaving England to plan for a day when I will confront Voldemort on my __**own**__ terms, terms which will not involve school children being asked to die like soldiers. I'm not sure when that will be so don't hold your breath on Voldemort being cast down any time soon."_

The hall erupted in a cacophony of voices all shouting at once. Quite a few were calling Harry a coward. Hermione could only marvel where this was coming from. Only an hour before Harry had been adamant that his conflict with Voldemort would end tonight!

"_I won't waste anymore of your time. I'm heading out to delay Voldemort a bit. I strongly suggest you start to evacuate. If you can't get the Professors to help, look to Ron Weasley. He knows a way out into the forest. Not the best escape route but it's something."_

Every head in the room seem to turn towards Ron and Hermione just as they had to McGonagall and the other teachers earlier. George, in particular, looked murderous at the idea that there had been a potential escape route they could have taken which might have meant his twin would still be alive. Hermione could feel the sudden menace directed at Ron (and herself to an extent) from all around her.

"_I wish you all luck on your escape or acceptance of Voldemort's rule depending on how you choose. Because it is __**your **__choice and always has been. Even with the prophecy between Voldemort and myself, every Death Eater or sympathizer dead at your hands would make the world a better place. All you have to do is take responsibility for your lives instead of waiting for a Chosen One to save your bacon. I certainly won't be saving anyone from anything. I'll only return simply to fulfill something which fate demands I do and nothing more. Goodbye."_

The hall dissolved into cries for portkeys or questions towards Ron about the escape route Harry had talked about. Hermione was jostled as people began to press in from all sides. Someone hit her hard in the back of the head while a witch hissed, "Were you going to let all of us draw fire while you and Weasley snuck out the back way?"

Hermione turned and pressed her back against Ron so she was facing the angry faces arrayed all around her. Her wand came up and glowed a menacing blue which caused everyone to back off.

As McGonagall called for calm, Hermione wondered if she had survived all this time only to be torn apart by an angry mob of her fellow students. Behind her, Ron was stammering out pleas that he'd lead people to the Chamber of Secrets.

What had happened to Harry while he had been gone? Why had he suddenly abandoned them? Abandoned her?

Hermione furiously tried to answer this question as she worked to keep the unruly, panicked crowd off McGonagall and Ron.

**XxXxX**

**HIDDEN GROVE, FORBIDDEN FOREST, SCOTLAND – MAY 2****nd**** 1998 – EVENING**

"I thought he would come," Voldemort said. The reptilian face had a expression which looked like it couldn't make up its mind whether to be cross or surprised. "I expected him to come."

The assembled Death Eaters watched as the Dark Lord stood, "I was, it seems…mistaken," Voldemort said.

**OoOoO**

"You weren't" Harry said as he pulled uncovered his head from out from under the invisibility cloak. He then parted it a bit to show his hands were empty.

There was a general outcry from the Death Eaters and as well as a ragged, "No!" from where Hagrid was tied to an enormous tree.

Voldemort, however, merely smirked. "Ah Harry Potter, the gallant Gryffindor to the end. I knew you wouldn't let your friends die."

Harry shook his head while he kept his hands clasp in front of his chest, "Sorry Tom but not only am I not here to die, I'm certainly not here to save anyone. No, I'm just here to conduct a little business, leave a message and then I'll be on my way out of England."

Voldemort's eyes became like slits, "You foolish boy! The only place you are going tonight is into your grave!"

"Harry shrugged, "Think what you like, Tom. Can I call you Tom? I mean after all the lessons Dumbledore taught me this year about your early life at the Muggle orphanage and at Hogwarts, it's like we're old school chums. Course I did destroy the horcrux of your 17 year old self so maybe not school chums."

Voldemort hissed in anger while Bellatrix's wand came up with a vile oath. Before she could curse him, Voldemort's waved her off, "So the Old Man thought he could defeat me by telling you secrets? I assure you that nothing you know will help you now. I'll be your end tonight."

Harry shook his head, "I'm sure you think that but as I said I'm really here for two things. First of is to tell you I've already announced to Hogwarts that anyone who didn't want to be killed by your forces need to flee the castle. Hopefully everyone is taking my advice."

Quite a few Death Eaters laughed at this. Rudolphus LeStrange spit at the ground at Harry's feet, "You idiot! No one is leaving the castle! We've locked it down and thrown up additional wards to ensure no one is going anywhere."

Harry smirked, "Yet your boss killed the current Headmaster leaving McGonagall the new Headmaster by default. She has enough control of the wards to allow out-going portkeys and while I didn't take my N.E.W.T.s, I know enough about ward to know there is no portable wards you could have put up which would could block portkeys. So right now, I'm betting the only people left in the castle are the Slytherins."

Silence greeted Harry's words. Almost as one the Death Eaters looked to their lord in shock.

Voldemort, for his part, seemed almost amused, "True, killing Snape now was in retrospect a bit hasty. Yet in the end it changes nothing. I will find those who run and deal with them as I wish. I shall take Hogwarts and I shall mount your head for all to see in the Great Hall. All will know not to challenge me."

Harry laughed. While he knew his life was in terrible danger, the fact he actually had a plan helped keep his wits about him. Thus he could realize how pompous and almost vaudevillian Voldemort sounded, "Going to have to take a rain-check on you parting my head from my shoulders. Maybe in the future you will carry the day but right now I've got other plans which involve me seeing a lot more of the world."

"There is nothing you can do that will prevent your death tonight, whelp!" Bellatrix screeched.

Harry shook his head, "I beg to differ. You see I know two things your Dark Lord doesn't. The first is simply I've recently come into some knowledge one gets from magical nursery tales he didn't get growing up among the Muggles like we did and thus I know all sorts of things are possible when..."

Harry's words were cut off as two Death Eaters near Hagrid screamed. All turned to see skeletal hands coming out of the ground. Wands came up but not before more skeletons, many not human, began to rise up out of the ground to begin to claw at whatever was around them.

With an almost indifferent wave of his hand, Voldemort banished what looked like an acromantula skeleton trying to attack his foot. Most of the other Death Eaters were making short work of the other skeletons as well. "What was the point of this Potter?" Voldemort asked with a sneer.

Harry shrugged, "Just a distraction and a demonstration of one of the Deathly Hallows. You see the other thing I know which you don't is there is another way to win the allegiance of the Elder Wand and that is to be the rightful heir to House Peverell."

Before Voldemort eye's could do more than widen, Harry gestured and the Elder Wand flew from Voldemort's hand into his own. Harry grinned, "Now I have all three and am supposedly the Master of Death. Perhaps it is '_the power he knows not'_? Time will tell I guess!" With a twist of the ring Luna had given him, Harry Potter disappeared in the flash of a portkey as several spells lanced through where he had stood just seconds before.

Voldemort quickly pulled out his old wand and cast a detection spell before letting out a curse. Potter had obviously used a House emergency portkey which were devilishly hard to tract if not impossible. Where ever the brat was, Voldemort couldn't follow.

However a evil smile spread on his lips. Potter had said he intended to leave England and Voldemort had sensed he meant it. Let Harry Potter think he had won the day. He would consolidate his hold on England. He was immortal; he could afford to wait and in the fullness of time Potter would come to him and he would be ready in the seat of his own power.

All around him, his Death Eaters were surprised at their lord's sudden laughter.

**XxXxX**

**THE ROOKERY, OTTERY ST. CATCHPOLE – MAY 2****nd**** 1998 – EVENING**

Harry appeared with a pop in front of the ruins of the Rookery. Immediately he could hear pops which he assumed were from Winky and Kreacher as they worked to salvage what they could from the Lovegood ancestral home. Luckily while the main floor was totally crushed, the tower itself had mostly just collapsed down but didn't break up. Given the charms which kept the Burrow up, this didn't surprise Harry. Even so, it weighed heavily upon Harry when he found Hermione's method of escape had killed Xenophilius along with the Death Eaters chasing them.

Luna had been remarkably stoic about it. She had merely said she would have never wanted her life to be traded for his or Hermione's and Ron's. Still, Harry knew the loss of her father would come back to haunt Luna later.

He found her using the _reparo _spell to help clear the way for the house elves to work. She turned with a beaming smile. "Mission accomplished I take it?" Luna asked.

Harry nodded.

Luna smiled, "Well luckily Daddy's lab and home vault are intact. I already have the jewelry which will act like a temporary aging charm for when we need to rent the lorry and ship passage."

Harry nodded again, "Good. I'm betting if Tom has any agents, they are probably going to think I'll head to France and the Delacours. I doubt anyone will be looking around the docks of Portsmouth." Harry looked around, "Where's Teddy?"

Luna pointed to a tree with a swing attached to a sturdy branch. Harry saw a crib on the swing while it magically swayed slightly, "Teddy has been such a good baby. He is ever so cute when he changes his hair color!"

Harry smiled at this before it turned to a scowl. Harry had to wonder where Remus was now. Not that he had any intention of letting Teddy's father anywhere near his new godson. Harry had felt Remus had shown how unfit he was for raising his own son. Harry would make sure no matter what happened, Teddy wouldn't grow up like he had or Voldemort had for that matter.

Harry looked at Luna, "Can you pick him up some food while I'm renting the lorry?"

Luna laughed, "Do not worry about feeding, Harry. I will be providing Teddy his meals."

Harry blinked at this which caused Luna to laugh again. She motioned to her breasts which Harry realized had easily grown a cup size at least.

"One _matrina lactis_ and I will be more than ready to keep little Teddy fed," Luna explained.

"Nice!" Harry said and couldn't help but admire Luna's new dimensions. He hastily shut off a rather lewd line of thoughts.

"Oh you!" Luna said with a blush. Then her face turned serious, "So now what?"

Harry shrugged as he looked to the west, "I don't know. All I do know is there is a whole lot of life out there that I want to discover. Hopefully the goblins in the Union will be able to help us with our House affairs. Also we can hope neither Bellatrix or Narcissa know of or have any way to find the few Black properties in the Americas. Plus I'm betting there are some Potter properties we can find. If not, we have enough galleons from your father's stash to get by for now. We'll make do."

Luna took Harry's hand, "We will do it together. Remember Harry, the prophecy has no timeline. We have decades ahead of us. Who knows? Perhaps the Dark Lord's actions will cause the other magical nations to intervene. It may be without any followers to resurrect him again, he will be forced to wander aimlessly while you lead a normal, happy life far away from the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived. In the end he may pray for your death simply to release him from a shadowy in-between life."

Harry looked down at Luna before looking eastward with a sigh.

Luna correctly interpreted what Harry was thinking of and gently kissed him on the cheek, "Our friends all have their own destinies. Perhaps theirs will cross ours again. But their fate is their own. Let them take responsibility for their own lives for a change. I think we may yet be surprised."

Harry pursed his lips before nodding thoughtfully as he thought of Neville, "You know Luna, I certainly hope so."

With a pop, Kreacher appear and bowed low, "Masterz Black and Loveygoodz. All is bez ready!"

Harry held out his hand, "So my Lady Lovegood; shall we?"

Luna took his hand, "Yes my Lord Potter-Peverell-Black, let us shall!"

With a laugh the pair apparated off to set in motion the first steps in a long, long journey.

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Where would a fic like this go? Would we see Harry and Luna (with Teddy) journey to Canada and/or America, learn new skills, meet new people and see different magical communities? Or would we jump forward ten or twenty years for when Harry decides it is time to start making contacts back in England and from there we would see how England has fared under Voldemort's rule? Perhaps this might be a lead in to a story mostly told from Hermione's POV as she leads her rag-tag, guerilla force against Voldemort. Will she be happy to see Harry when he finally shows up? Or will she be a bitter, hardened witch who resents Harry even as she didn't take his advice to leave?

**Spells**  
Matrina Lactis: _Godmother's milk_ – A way for a godmother or simply a milk-mother to feed a child.

23


	7. Eddy Blackadder: Wizard of Wales

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**DISCLAIMER THE SECOND: **This fic is approved by the baby-eating Bishop of Bath & Welles.

**XxXxX**

**PITHY COMMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_Tyrannosaurus drinks. Tyrannosaurus drives. Tyrannosaurus rex_." – **Author Unknown**

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ONE - A GRAVE MATTER**

**MANOR DE RIDDLE CEMETARY, LITTLE HANGLETON, UK – JUNE 24****th**** 1995 – EVENING**

For a moment Harry could do nothing but watch as the shades of his parents flew towards Voldemort. Then it dawned on him that while Voldemort was engaged with the spirits, all it took was one of the Death Eaters to be watching him to sound the alarm. So ignoring the pain in his arm, Harry bolted towards Cedric's corpse.

As bad luck would have it, Lucius Malfoy's confidence in the Dark Lord was enough for him to keep his wits about him and thus he saw Harry sprinting away. "My Lord! The boy flees!"

Voldemort's serpent-like eyes instantly tracked to where the Boy-Who-Lived was running. With an indistinct roar, Voldemort pushed out his aura in a crackling of dark magic. The ghostly after-images of those he murdered seemed to burst into an ethereal flame and were no more.

"You cannot escape Fate, Harry Potter!" Voldemort called. The surrounding Death Eaters couldn't help but shiver as a wave of something which could only be described as sickly washed over them.

"_**Avada Kedavra!**_"

The green bolt flew true and struck Harry in the chest as the boy had turned at the sound of the Killing Curse. Without a word, he crumpled to the ground next to the lifeless body of the Hufflepuff champion, striking his head on a gravestone on the way down. None of this was surprising to the Death Eaters yet all were shocked to see their master give a startled gasp as he too collapsed to the ground.

**OoOoO**

Harry Potter awoke to the smell of incense. He was pretty sure it was sandalwood as Professor Trelawney often used it in her classroom. She felt it helped set the mood for proper Divination but most of the students suspected it was to cover up the smell of sherry which seemed to permeate the room.

Harry opened his eyes and found he seemed to be in what could only be described as something out of 1001 Arabian Nights. Harry was clothed in something which to him looked like it was Turkish. He also noticed his arm was healed and that he felt no pain from the other bumps and bruises he had from the Final Task. From somewhere there was the sound of a sitar being played along with an odd shuffling sound like an animal trapped in a hedge. Harry rolled over from the cushions he found himself on and oriented on the sound.

"Do not bother, young Harry. That what you hear is beyond help."

Harry turned towards the deep, resonant voice to find a bearded man decked out like a sultan watching him as he puffed on a hookah pipe. Harry had to admit he had never seen a man who radiated masculinity as much as this man (was he a man?) did. Even so, Harry looked over towards the sound he had heard earlier to see what appeared to be a baby. However the baby's skin was red and blotchy and he could almost feel the reek of evil coming off of it.

The man gave a deep, rumbling chuckle, "I am afraid even your 'saving people thing' would not help it. As I said, it is beyond redemption."

Harry couldn't take his eyes off the flailing baby. He wanted to help even as he was revolted by it. It almost reminded him of Voldemort's form before he was put into the cauldron by Wormtail. "What is that thing?" he asked.

"That, my young friend, is the piece of soul that was your curse scar. Like the shade of Tom Riddle which was in the Diary, it was a piece of Voldemort's soul. When you were hit with the Killing Curse, it was removed from you. When we leave this place, it will be sent to its infernal reward." the man said. He took a deep drag and began to blow perfectly rounded smoke rings into the air.

Harry blinked at the man's casualness. "You are telling me I have had a piece of Voldemort's soul in my head since the attack of 1981?"

The man nodded, "As well as the piece from the Diary. It merged with the scar piece after you destroyed the Diary with the basilisk fang. Voldemort's soul piece in you formed the basis of the connection between the two of you. However, unlike what I'm sure your Headmaster believes, it isn't the reason you are a Parseltongue. I am the reason for that."

It was beginning to dawn on Harry of the unreality of what was going on. While everything looked real, he felt clean, rested and clear-headed. None of these things were how he had been feeling when he faced Voldemort. "And you are?" Harry asked.

The man laughed a booming laugh, "Yes! Yes! Introductions must be made. I, my young friend, am Samael. Lord of the Lilin." Harry noted how he said pronounced his name Sah-my-ale in the Old Way.

"Alright Lord Samael, I'm Harry Potter which you seem quite aware of. Where are we and how did I get here? Plus I guess I should find out what you want with me." the boy asked.

The man smiled, "The _where_ is easily answered. We are in between Life and Death. A personal limbo if you will. In a sense, this is all in your head. It is real and unreal at the same time. The _how_ is simple; you were hit with a Killing Curse by Voldemort. However, by using your blood to resurrect himself, he took into himself some of the blood protection your mother cast upon you. While he lives, he cannot kill you with the Killing Curse. Your soul will return to your body as long as you wish it to."

Samael leaned towards Harry with a serious look upon his face, "As to what I want of you Harry, I wish I had the time to tell you the long history of the Akasha. Suffice to say that a long time ago there was a race of beings in another dimension desperately looking to escape the coming death of their home. We found a way to make contact with you dimension and allowed wizards summoned us temporarily."

The Lilin took another puff on his pipe, "Those early wizards thought we were demons and used us for their own ends. We chafed at this but all the while we searched for a way our people could cross over permanently. Fate conspired against us and the Veil Between Worlds shifted trapping many of us here. With centuries ahead before the Veil would shift enough to allow another crossing, we were desperate to find away to keep from fading from existence."

Harry was fascinated. None of his classes had talked much about the Veil other than many magical creatures and even beings like the goblins were originally from a different dimension. All had been trapped when the Veil had closed centuries ago.

Samuel smiled sadly, "As you can guess we were rapidly running out of time to find an answer. Luckily one of my brethren, a being named Agni, interrupted a dark ritual which a wizard had meant to bind his body and six of his followers to one of us to them immortal. Thus the vampires were born even though what you know as vampires are actually what we call the Nosferatu." The Lilin paused before grinning, "All of that is neither here nor there."

Samael took another drag on his hookah before continuing. "Sadly this ritual could not be replicated due to the magical artifact used was destroyed. However it gave Lady Lilith the idea of a different way for those of us remaining to bond with humans so we would not die out. She was the first succubus while I was the first incubus. There is a great deal I wish I had time to tell you of Lilith and the Lilin we spawned but sadly while time moves differently here, there is not enough to tell the full tale."

Harry gave a start as Samael reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder. The man had barely seemed to have shifted yet he moved so fast! "Harry, while I do not have time to tell you what I wish I could, I want you to know this. We incubus are usually spread out over many children. Unlike succubuses who are reside in the mother and her first daughter; incubus can be in many males at once. However, if these males die, the power jumps to one of the remaining hosts. At one time I was spread out over many wizards of the Black family. I was a whisper in their ear, bending them towards the salvation of the Akasha."

Samael stood and for a moment his form seemed to shimmer. "We are running out of time. Harry, all of my energy rests in you now. All of my other hosts are dead except Sirius Black. However the effects of potions given to him while he was in Azkaban finally have eaten at him enough to render him sterile which is like death to beings such as me. You are now my only host and my only hope. If you die, then after more time than you can comprehend, I will cease to exist. Thus what I want from you is simple; I want you to survive."

Harry was silent but as everything in the tent (to include himself) shimmered again, he found his voice, "So you are in me, controlling me?"

Samael laughed, "No Harry. Voldemort's soul kept you from hearing my voice. Even know, even with all of me in you, I would be a mere whisper in your soul. I do not control you, I live through you. In time I, nor any Akasha, will no longer need host bodies if Fate is kind. For now, I give to you, like many in lines like the Blacks, the gifts of the Lilin. We are partners even if only one side knows of the deal."

Harry gave a start as everything faded to a white nothingness leaving only Samael, the bit of Voldemort's body and himself. Even their clothes disappeared. Samael looked sad, "I hope that perhaps we will have time to commune again, Harry James Potter, but that is out of both our hands now. All I can say is this; you struck your head after being hit by the Killing Curse. You are very hurt and I'm not sure how you will survive."

Harry reflexively grabbed his head as if to confirm this only to find nothing.

Samuel nodded, "Trust me, you are indeed wounded and gravely at that. If you do survive, know that with Voldemort's soul fragment out of you, you will come into your full Lilin powers as well as being free from the magical bonds which siphoned off your magic to feed all of the wards and tracking charms placed upon you. With all of me in you, you will be THE Lilin in a way. I wish to survive and for that I need you to breed. Regardless of this selfness on my part, I would ask you, young Harry that if you do escape that you attempt to truly live. You have merely existed since the day you survived Voldemort's first attack on you. You have been manipulated and lied to. You friends and enemies are often not who you think they are. You deserve a life of your own. You are young but have already earned what should be a hero's reward of a good life."

Harry's vision began to fade but as he seemed to be blinded by the white nothingness, Samael's voice called out, "You are an heir to many legacies, Harry James Potter! Be the Lord you were born to be! Be the Marauder you were meant to be! Be the hero you were destined to be! Be the lover I know you can be!"

**OoOoO**

Voldemort's eyes flew open to find the tip of Lucius' wand half-way through what was probably a diagnostic spell. The blond wizard gave a start and quickly moved his wand away from Voldemort's face.

"My lord! Can you hear me?" Lucius asked cautiously.

Voldemort almost snarled at this but checked his anger. With serpentine grace he quickly got to his feet. He felt weak and it felt like the very blood in his veins was hot. "What happened, Malfoy? Speak!"

Lucius bowed his head, "You collapsed for a brief moment after you struck down Potter. You were unconscious only for as long as it took me to step to you and begin my diagnostic spell."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed at this, "Wormtail!"

"Yes master?" the scruffy man practically squeaked.

Voldemort gestured towards Potter's corpse, "Go over there and AK the body again. I do not want any more surprises from Harry Potter."

Wormtail gave a bobbing bow and ambled over to the boy. It didn't look like he was alive but it was hard to tell. Not that it matter to Wormtail. His hatred of the son of James Potter made his heart sing that the boy was either dead or would be dead at his own hands in a moment. Without thinking about the possibility of the life-debt he owed the boy, with a sharp jab, Wormtail cast the killing curse.

Yet just as he did, he was blinded by a brilliant flash of fire. Blinking away the spots, Wormtail saw what looked like a bird made of fire was none other than Fawkes, the phoenix familiar of Dumbledore himself. Wormtail looked down at Potter who looked just as still as he had prior to his spell. It was done.

Voldemort couldn't help but cringe at the angelic (if highly angry) trilling the phoenix was making as it flew over them. Seeing the look of satisfaction on Wormtail's face he made a decision, "Death Eaters! Return whence you came. I shall contact you again very soon." He turned to Lucius, "Take me to your Manor; we do not yet have the strength to deal with the Old Man or the Ministry."

Lucius nodded as he took Voldemort's arm, "While the old fool will know of your return, I am certain Fudge will be too scared to believe Dumbledore. Time is on our side, my Lord!" With a multitude of cracks, one by one the Death Eaters apparated away until the cemetery was empty except for the two bodies and a phoenix who warbled a mournful cry before it too disappeared.

**XxXxX**

**WEST BOUND ON HALL LANE, UK** – **JUNE 24****th**** 1995 – EVENING**

"I'm telling you, me boyo, that I've never seen the like! Not a scratch on the boy yet dead as me mum, God rest her immortal soul." Paramedic O'Reilly shook his head before he zipped the body bag back up. The lack of any wound on the dead boy was creeping him out. At least the other boy had the decency to be bleeding from his wounds before they patched him up even if his vitals were so low they were hard to read.

Franklin Stewart reached over to hit the siren as the ambulance neared an intersection. He wasn't happy because he'd already seen one or two cars filled with fans coming back from a big Power League game and it seemed obvious from their erratic driving they had had more than a few to drink at the match. The problem was the route into Bolton would probably be filled with such cars. "Don't worry, mate. I'm sure the docs will find a perfectly good explanation. Besides, while he's young, kids his age do die of strokes, you know."

O'Reilly checked the unconscious boy's pulse which again proved very difficult. "I just hope that Constable Featherstone will be a good girl and fill us in on the good gossip. What sort of team name is Hogwarts anyhow and what where those two doing in a cemetery with a bloody cauldron of all things?" O'Reilly once again tried to take the stick which was in the boy's hand but as before he seemed to have a death grip on it.

"I don't know. Maybe it was some sort of initiation? Or some weird sport's magic. You know, voodoo the other team?" Franklin laughed. "I know back at Eton we did a lot of stupid things if we thought it might give us a…OH FUCKING HELL!" The on-coming car's lights had just swerved into their lane.

Before O'Reilly could do more than look up in alarm at his partner's shout, the ambulance collided with the other vehicle. Both paramedics screamed as the ambulance hit the guard rail and pitched over, rolling down the embankment before coming to rest near an ancient tree. The ambulance was practically ripped in two with one whole side torn open. The car which had hit them (filled with the same drunken football fans as EMT Stewart had worried about) fared little better as it had flipped over onto its roof. A can of petrol in the boot ignited when an emergency flare broke in two and activated. The car soon was engulfed in flames. Neither the paramedic nor any of the teenagers survived the crash.

If they had, they would have been shocked to see a small green girl seemingly step out of the tree. The girl made her way to a body which had been flung away from the ambulance as it had tumbled. The body had luckily landed in a patch of fen water. The girl's feet glided over the surface of the bog as nimbly as if it were a dance floor. For her this was natural as she was not a little girl at all but a dryad who had lived within her tree for almost 200 years. The bog and the river which flowed through it was as much her home as her tree.

The dryad looked down at the teenager whose clothes where ripped and who bled from several small injuries. Yet his hand still clung to his holly wand. With a shake of her head she whispered, "This will never do."

**XxXxX**

**HEADMASTERS OFFICE, HOGWARTS, SCOTLAND – JUNE 25****th**** 1995 – EARLY MORNING**

Emmeline Vance cursed to herself for about the fourth time since apparating to the edge of the wards around Hogwarts. Why did she have to be the one to bring the bad news? Beyond the fact the besides herself, Dumbledore probably would have sent Arthur Weasley to the crime scene and he'd have been as useful as a boil on a bunion. For a man who worked with Muggles, he was as clueless as almost every Pureblood she had ever met.

With a snarl she snapped out the password to the Headmaster's office and the gargoyles seemed eager to get out of her way. Vance tried to order her thoughts as the moveable staircase brought her closer to having to break the bad news. As she neared the top, Vance could hear a spirited discussion already in progress.

The door opened for her before she could even reach for the door handle. She was obviously expected. Sure enough, Dumbledore was looking her way as she entered. The room was filled with professors and one time members of the Order of the Phoenix. Well, perhaps current members since Voldemort was definitely back.

"Ah, Auror Vance, please come in and have a seat. Lemon drop?" The Headmaster asked with a gesture to one of the few remaining seats left in the office. While his tone was light, Vance noticed his eyes didn't have their customary twinkle. She also noticed that none of the many silvery objects which previous had been in motion, puffing smoke, or emitting odd noises from time to time where active. She frowned grimly at this. She knew why.

"No thank you, Headmaster. I do not believe it is the time for children's sweets." Vance said tiredly. She could feel the room grow even tenser than it already was.

"What news, Vance? Did you have to obliviate those Muggles? You were gone longer than I expected," asked Kingsley Shacklebolt. With Mad-Eye Mooney recovering from being found trapped in his seven room trunk, he was the lead Auror for the Order present.

Vance looked around the room before answering. Molly Weasley seemed to have been crying since her eyes were red and puffy. Professor McGonagall looked even more grim than usual while Professor Flitwick and Sprout just seemed sad. The others in the room (most she knew with others she only knew in passing) looked at her with apprehension as if they knew she would dash their hopes. She noticed that Professor Snape wasn't there. She wondered if Dumbledore had sent him back to Voldemort to spy.

Vance took a deep breath, "I arrived in Little Hangleton alright and from what the Headmaster was able to glean from Fawkes, finding the cemetery was pretty easy. Once there, I found it overrun with Muggle Police. It was being treated like a crime scene by the local constabulary. As odd as it might sound, they felt it was some sort of football prank gone wrong."

Kingsley frowned, "Why is that?"

Vance shrugged, "I think it was because of the uniforms Cedric and Harry were wearing. They look enough like Muggle sportswear that I could see how they might mistake it for that."

"From your past tense use, am I to take it that the boys are in hospital or perhaps even in custody?" Dumbledore asked.

Vance cringed at the blatant, desperate hope which filled the Headmaster's words. "No, I used the past tense because Cedric Diggory is dead and it is almost certain that Harry Potter is as well."

Beyond Molly Weasley's blubbering wail, the room reacted to the news with silence. Seeing that no one was going to say anything, Vance continued. "I spoke with a Constable Featherstone and she told me that officers responding to reports of weird lights in the cemetery found Mr. Diggory dead on their arrival while Mr. Potter was unconscious from what appeared to be head trauma as well as a knife wound to his left arm. Both Mr. Diggory's body and Mr. Potter were transferred to an ambulance and were in route to the local hospital when the ambulance was hit by a drunk driver. The ambulance flipped over the guard rail and fell down an embankment into a bog. All inside were killed along with the driver and passengers in the other vehicle."

Vance paused to see if she needed to explain a bit more. Apparently everyone understood enough so she continued, "Mr. Diggory's body is with all the other victim's corpses at the Bolton morgue. Mr. Potter's body is missing. However the ambulance had been ripped open in the crash and there was debris scattered pretty widely. One of the paramedic's bodies was found about 5 meters from the vehicle. Mr. Potter's body hasn't been found but there is a river near the crash site. The police believe Mr. Potter's body was thrown into the river and washed away. They are searching for it now. However, from the damage done to the paramedic's body which was thrown clear of the wreck, it is highly doubtful Mr. Potter would have survived being ejected from the vehicle regardless of being a magical. Even if Mr. Potter had survived the impact, he most certainly would have drowned while being swept down river."

Vance gestured to the collection of silvery instruments off to the side. "I also did various detection charms along with the artifact given to me by the Headmaster. I could not detect Mr. Potter or even get a trace on his body. I did find the residue from a great deal magic as well as the spell signature of three Killing Curses as well as the Cruciatus Curse at the graveyard. Some of the magic I detected was of an unknown type so it is possible the Dark Lord did something to Mr. Potter even while leaving him alive. Whatever it was, it might explain why we cannot find his body. That is all I have to report. We do need to contact the Ministry to have Mr. Diggory's body retrieved by his family. I have also set a charm to alert us if Mr. Potter's body is found by the Muggle authorities."

The room looked at Dumbledore who seemed to have transformed from a kindly grandfather figure to a very, very tired old man. For a moment the Headmaster was silent as he absent-mindedly stroked Fawkes' feathers. Finally he spoke in a soft, sad voice, "I had hoped Harry was still alive. From what I saw in Fawkes' memories, the Killing Curse Mr. Pettigrew cast missed Harry by inches. I am surprised, I must confess, as to why Voldemort didn't kill Harry himself."

"Albus, I would think that if the Dark Lord used Mr. Potter in some way to further his resurrection than perhaps he felt tied to him in some way," Professor Flitwick said.

Professor Vector nodded, "I agree with Filius. Since the Dark Lord seemed to go through a very convoluted path to take Mr. Potter and be resurrected on Midsummer's Day then it stands to reason he probably used the boy in a ritualistic way. The fact you said that Mr. Potter had a wound where the Dark Mark is on Death Eaters would imply he was bled for the ceremony. Sharing a blood connection might be enough to keep the Dark Lord from wanting to kill him personally."

Dumbledore nodded, "I agree. Fawkes was certain Harry was alive when he left. He would have tried to heal Harry but it was lucky Fawkes had come far enough along from his Burning Day that he could even apparate to Harry. A week earlier and Fawkes would have been unable to fly and a week from now Fawkes could have taken me there himself." Dumbledore shook his head as if he felt cheated by Time itself.

Dumbledore fell silent. The room waited expectantly. Finally Arthur Weasley asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "What do we do now Albus? What do we tell the children to say nothing of the Ministry? Fudge is going insane with all the uncertainties. The Bulgarians are livid with Viktor being put under the Imperious Curse and the French believe this was some sort of plot against Ms. Delacour as well. More importantly for England, with Harry dead, how can we hope to defeat the Dark Lord?"

Dumbledore didn't reply for a moment. Suddenly the old man's head snapped up and his eyes were sparkling again as a hopeful smile broke out onto his face.

"Albus? What is it?" McGonagall asked. She couldn't believe Dumbledore could be happy at a time like this! The Chosen One was dead and with it their hopes of defeating the Dark Lord.

"What it is, Minerva, is hope. All of you know of the prophecy. However none here save myself has heard the full prophecy. By not killing Harry personally, Voldemort has proven that we both made a grave mistake. A wonderful mistake even as it comes at great cost in life." Dumbledore said excitedly.

"What mistake would that be, Headmaster?" Professor Sinestra said in her soft, breathy voice.

"We both felt Harry Potter was the Chosen One. It appears it has been Neville Longbottom all this time."

The room looked at the Headmaster in unbelieving silence. Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle, "We still have hope after all."

**XxXxX**

**THE SPEECH HOUSE, DEAN FOREST & WYE VALLEY NATURAL RESERVE, UK – JUNE 24****th**** 1995 – LATE EVENING**

Laura Gwynne bit her lip as she carefully made her way down path. Even though there was but a sliver of the moon overhead, the stars shone brightly enough to light her way along the dark path. As much as she wished she could take one of the forest paths, she didn't have a torch. It didn't matter; she loved walking under the stars. It was rare to be able to get away to a place where man-made lights didn't wash out the stars overhead.

Her thighs and back hurt to say nothing of the pain between her legs. Tonight's john had paid extra and even had tipped for her services. However the roughness of the night's activities made it almost not worth the money. Laura had found over time it helped to walked it out instead of just driving back home immediately. She knew even with a long soak, tomorrow was going to be hell. Such was the life of a prostitute, Laura thought.

It wasn't the life she had envisioned for herself but then again Laura doubted any little girl dreamed of growing up to be a call girl. Especially not one with a thuggish pimp and a heroin addiction. While she was covertly working on her heroin addiction, the pimp was the real problem considering Begbie was her pusher as well. Laura knew if he ever found out about her covert trips to the methadone clinic, well she shuddered to think of what might happen.

Her musings were interrupted by a snap of a twig in the tree line not far from where she was. Laura stopped and strained to see what had made the noise. While the Forest of Dean didn't have any dangerous predators, Laura knew well enough that she might not be the only other person out for a stroll. Dealing with drunks from the Speech House might be worse than a feral dog.

Minutes ticked by as she stood motionless. She wished she wasn't so exposed but she didn't want to move into the wood line since she wouldn't be able to see and would probably snap a few twigs herself. Laura knew it was probably just a deer but living life on the outside of society had taught her caution if nothing else.

A movement caught her eye but it wasn't a deer which emerged from the woods across the clearing but what looked like a boy or a very short man. Judging from his awkward gait, Laura figured him for a short, drunk man. She was about to continue her walk when she saw the man collapse. She frowned to herself. As much as she didn't want to get involved, it wasn't right to leave a guy passed out in the woods.

With a sigh at her good nature (it was certainly going to get her into trouble some day) she carefully made her way over to the prone form. What she found surprised her. Her initial guess of a drunken man was wrong. Instead Laura could make out that it was indeed a boy, no older than 14 or 15. He was bloodied up pretty badly and his clothing was ripped and torn. She also noticed that amazingly he was still conscious as his eyes were locked with hers.

"Hey there! I'm going to help you, okay? You're hurt so let me help you," Laura said soothingly. For some reason there was a wildness to the injured boy. Something primal and even dangerous. She didn't want to just start helping him up without trying to show she wasn't a threat. Her words seemed to work as the boy's labored panting seemed to ease and the feeling of menace faded.

Laura practically had to drag the boy onto his feet. For such a wiry kid, he felt heavier than he should to Laura. "Okay kiddo, I'm Laura and I'm going to walk you to my car, okay? You need to help me out here, alright?" For some reason it never entered her head to take him up to the Speech House and call for an ambulance. Laura somehow knew it was better not to involve any of the authorities. Of course a prostitute learns early to avoid having to talk with police no matter what the reason. Dubious legality of prostitution or not, she was in violation of enough laws to have her put away for a long time.

The wounded teen didn't say anything but let out a few gasps of pain as the pair made their way to Laura's beat up Mini Mk IV. The teen was still silent and just looked at her as Laura buckled him in. He started slightly when she had patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. Laura broke out her 'emergency kit' and pulled out some witch hazel and a wash cloth. It always paid to be prepared for almost anything when out with a john.

"Okay Sunny Jim, this is going to sting some but I need to clean you up a bit, okay?" Laura asked.

The teen just looked at her in a way which made her almost think he didn't speak English. However he seemed to understand what she was on about. It took almost ten minutes to clean his wounds, with the nasty cut on his left arm being the worst. Even though Laura knew it was painful, the teen didn't make a sound as she worked. Laura had a sinking feeling it was because he was used to pain and the stinging of the witch hazel was simply an annoyance to him.

Laura shook her head as she put her supplies away and started up her car. She had to be daft to be bringing him home with her. It wasn't like he was a stray dog or cat. True, her flat had been awfully lonely since her cat Buttons had died but it wasn't like she could keep a teen as a pet!

With another shake of her head, she pulled out of the parking lot and pointed her car towards home. For some reason it seemed taking the teen home with her was the better option than just dumping him off at hospital. Laura knew she was acting crazy but she'd learned to trust her gut instinct on things and right now she just knew that talking the kid home was the right thing to do.

She looked over at the teen. His green eyes seemed unnaturally bright as he stared out the window all while clutching an oddly carved stick in his hands. His face was like a mask but there was an undercurrent to him, a feeling of something just under that blank face. Laura just hoped this wasn't the one time her gut instinct turned out to be wrong.

**XxXxX**

**134 ****Bristol Road, Quedgeley****, UK – JUNE 25****th**** 1995 – MORNING**

Laura awoke to a smell which surprised her as it made her stomach rumble: bacon. She groaned a bit as she rolled over. As she had predicted, her back, thighs and sex all ached from the rough handling she had had the night before. Yet the smells of food tempted her and so she rolled out of bed. She was half-way through putting on her robe when it hit her.

Who was making breakfast in her flat?

A moment of icy fear ripped through her. There was someone in her flat. Laura bolted towards her dresser and fumbled through the top drawer filled with all her lacy knickers. She grabbed the small illegal handgun she had taken off a junkie she found OD'ed in an alley a year ago before it hit her.

The teen she had picked up in the Forest of Dean!

Laura blinked and then put the pistol in one of the pockets of her robe and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She cautiously crept into the dining area only to find the raven-haired teen busily cooking. He moved with an economy of movement which startled Laura. She didn't think a boy could cook so efficiently. Her brothers had been right slobs and useless around the house.

She must have made some sort of noise for the teen looked over his shoulder to look at her. Laura almost gasped at seeing the piercing green eyes in the daylight. The night before she had felt they had almost glowed but seeing them during the day was almost as startling.

The teen still had the blank look he had worn the night before. He just stared at her for a moment before going back to what he was doing. Laura watched as he efficiently transferred the various things he had made to a plate and set them on the table. He then went to the cool box and opened it up. The teen again looked over his shoulder and made a slight gesture towards the appliance.

It took a second before Laura understood what the boy must mean, "Uhm, juice is fine, thank you." Without a word or change in expression, the teen poured her a glass of juice and set it on the table with the meal which Laura realized had to be for her. She frowned; the boy hadn't made anything for himself.

Regardless, she sat down before looking at the boy, "Well Sunny Jim, this is wonderful but what are you going to eat?"

The teen's face didn't change but Laura got an impression he seemed confused. Did he think he couldn't eat any of her food? "Please, make some for yourself. This looks wonderful and smells even better! Much better than I could make, I'm afraid." She watched the boy for a moment before thinking it best to eat some of the food lest the boy think she might not like it. The smell of the food hadn't lied; it was delicious.

She ate some more as she found herself rather ravenous. Her 'date' last night hadn't felt it necessary to do more than ply her with a drink or two before fucking her. Most of her johns at least went through the motions if not actually enjoying a meal. Laura had found many of her clients seemed to want a chance to talk almost more than they wanted the sex. After a few minutes of trying to get a handle on her hunger, Laura looked up to see the teen still watching her with an unreadable look on his face.

Laura faked a smile, "Look, I wasn't kidding. Please make some food for yourself. I hate to cook and feeding you is a small price to pay for not having to cook and getting a great meal out of it as well."

The boy looked unsure but after Laura made some 'shooing' motions towards the stove, the teen finally relented and quietly began to make some food for himself. Laura continued to eat but she noticed right off how the boy only made some toast, a few pieces of bacon while quickly eating a banana. As she was taking all of this in, it suddenly hit her how the boy was still bloodied from whatever had happened to him. In fact it seemed the boy had done little else after getting up from the couch she had bedded him down on for the night than washing his hands before starting to cook.

What sort of boy would get up and immediately cook breakfast when he was still bloody and nasty from what looked like a downright brutal mugging?

Laura kept her thoughts to herself as the boy sat down with his meal. She got up and went to the coffee pot, "Want a cuppa? I'm not one for tea in the morning." The boy looked unsure for a moment then shrugged. Laura figured she'd make enough for two just to be sure. She surreptitiously watched the boy as she ground the coffee. Laura noticed how mechanically he ate. It was almost like the act of eating was just some task no different than making her breakfast.

After the coffee pot was burbling away, she sat back down but rather than stare at the boy, she looked out the kitchen window to collect her thoughts. Why had she brought the boy home with her instead of taking him to hospital? She was beginning to worry he might be mentally retarded. So far he hadn't said a word and all Laura had to go on was the fact he seemed to understand English.

"So, Sunny Jim, I guess now would be a good time for introductions. My name is Laura Gwynne. What is your name?" Laura asked.

The boy just chewed and looked at her. At first Laura felt cross he was ignoring her but as the silence between them grew, it dawned on her that he seemed to be thinking as if to try and find the answer for her. "Okay, kiddo, how about this? Can you speak English?"

The boy looked at her blankly for a moment. He looked down at his plate before he looked back at her. "Yes…yes I can." His voice was low as if he didn't want anyone beyond Laura to hear him.

Laura frowned since it seemed the boy seemed surprised by his admission. It was almost as if it had come a surprise to him. She also noticed he had a London area accent. "Okay well that's a start. Now how about a name? Can't keep calling you Sunny Jim now can I?"

The boy frowned and picked at his food for a moment. Finally he said in a soft tone, "I don't know."

Laura frowned, "You don't know what?"

The teen looked a bit panicked, "I don't know my name. In fact, I don't know anything. Where I am; how I got here or even who I am." The boy looked away, "The first thing I remember was a bright light and then stumbling around in the dark for a bit before you found me."

Laura's first thought almost made her laugh. The boy had been abducted from around London by aliens and had managed to escape or something. She shook her head at such an outlandish thought. However the idea of aliens medically experimenting on the boy reminded Laura again of his condition.

"Well I doubt your name is 'Hogwarts' so how about with try Jim for now unless you'd prefer Jimmy." Laura asked. "You eat up so we can get you cleaned up. I think I've got some clothes which might fit you. My old roommate up and badgered off in the middle of the night to avoid paying rent and left quite a lot of things."

The boy obediently tucked into his food . After he finished eating, he looked up. He still had the mostly blank look on his face. It was almost like not only could he not remember who he was but he couldn't remember how to show emotion either. "I think Jimmy sounds…better."

Laura smiled, "Okay, Jimmy it is for now until we get you all sorted."

The boy gave her a curious look.

"What?" Laura asked.

The young teen shook his head, "I don't know. I think I've already been sorted but I don't know how or why. Supposedly I was cunning and ambitious but I went for being brave instead. Does that make sense to you?"

Laura shook her head, "Jimmy, you've had some serious knocks to your head. I'm sure lots of things aren't going to make sense. How about you run upstairs and take a shower and we'll figure out where to go from here. I think I've got some clothes left behind by my last roommate jumped ship to weasel out of paying rent. They should fit you."

The boy nodded absently and went upstairs. After a bit Laura heard the shower go on. As she had the night before, Laura wondered what she had invited into her house and life. She couldn't shake the feeling of danger even though the boy didn't seem to be the cause.

She shook her head. How could a cute teen like him be any danger to anyone?

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Sadly Laura is going to find out being around Harry inevitably leads to collateral damage. Yet Harry will find a new guardian from a surprising venue. From there he will grow to become the champion of Wales, keeping Voldemort and his Ministry out of Wales. Yet a botched assassination attempt on Narcissa Malfoy (Voldemort's ambassador) will set the stage for Harry (who will take the name Edmund "Eddy" James Blackadder for reason which I will explore) to meet the leader of the Resistance, Hermione Granger! Oh for those thinking I'm "wasting my time" with these plot bunnies, I wrote this ages ago. I'm just now putting it up.

**Casa Voldemort**: By author fiat, Little Hangleton will take place of Little Lever which is close to Bolton. Likewise Greater Hangleton will take the place of Greater Lever. It is within the 200 mile radius from Surrey as state in GoF. (Although I wonder in the UK edition did it say 200 kilometers?) Historically Little Lever was part of the Barony of Manchester and was overseen for the Baron by a Leising de Lever. A quick change to de Riddle and presto-chango we have what I need. Since I can't find any manor house via Google Maps, I'm using the Ladyshore Cottage which has plenty of land, is on the river and there is plenty of land near by for the Gaunt house to be hidden. I love Google Maps!

**Legal Prostitution**: From my research, prostitution is legal in the UK but there are enough ancillary laws to make it practically illegal to actually do it. Having a pimp is one way.

**Hate it but…**: I normally hate fics where Harry is referred to by a different name. Not that I have an issue with it per se, but I don't like when Harry is using a different name and the author uses it in all things. An example of this is in a fic I like _Quoth the Raven, Nevermore_ by **GenkaiFan**. If Harry is going my a pseudonym the author should still write things like 'Harry said' or 'Harry felt' because he still thinks of himself as Harry even if he's using a different name. Sadly, for a bit in this fic, Harry doesn't know who he is so until he does, he'll be written as if his name is Edmund "Eddy" James Blackadder which we shall see in upcoming chapters.


	8. Lily Potter and the Dark Choice

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience_." – **George Bernard Shaw **(Irish Playwright)

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTE:** This story idea came about due to comments made on my Yahoo group. Pretty much the idea was I got to wondering how Lily and James might have actually been like given Harry only gets to hear the idealized version of what people thought they were like.

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ? – UNEXPECTED MEETINGS**

**MANOR DE RIDDLE CEMETARY, LITTLE HANGLETON, UK – JUNE 24****th**** 1995 – EVENING**

"Robe me Wormtail!" Voldemort commanded imperiously while simultaneously ignoring how his servant was rapidly bleeding to death.

Harry struggled against the bonds holding him as he watch Wormtail struggle to take up the robe. This struggle was cut short with a cry of surprise when a spell shot out from the surrounding gloom and hit Pettigrew dead center in the chest. The rat animagus crumpled to the ground without a sound.

"What treachery is this?" Voldemort cried as he quickly leapt from the cauldron. He almost managed to grab Harry's wand from Pettigrew's pocket when another spell shot out. It was obviously the _Incarcerous_ spell as Voldemort was quickly wrapped in magical ropes.

Voldemort fell heavily onto Pettigrew's unconscious body, all the while swearing in sibilant Parseltongue.

Harry vainly tried to see through the gloom. Was he about to be rescued or was this indeed treachery by Death Eaters unlikely to let a witness live to tell the tale?

Finally two figures emerged out of the lingering mist, one Harry recognized easily as his Potion Master who was for some reason hobbling along with a cane. The other was a woman who looked vaguely familiar. As she drew closer, Harry gasped. It wasn't possible!

Harry gaped as the woman gestured towards Voldemort and Pettigrew, "Severus make sure the Rat doesn't die. I have a need of him before I thank him for his loyalty. Perhaps feeding him to that cat of Hermione's will do."

Snape nodded as he walked unsteadily to comply, "As you wish, Lily."

Harry tried to speak but he couldn't seem to make the words come out. Standing in front of him looking down at Voldemort trying to struggle was his supposedly dead mother.

The red-headed witch finally turned to look at Harry. With a smile and a wave of her wand, his bonds disappeared and he fell to his knees.

"Come here Harry and let mummy fix you up just like she did when you got boo-boos as a baby."

**OoOoO**

Lily stifled a laugh at the look on her son's face. Of course she almost wanted to laugh or otherwise she'd break down crying. Going through Severus' memories had been a gut wrenching experience for her. Her original plan had gone so wrong all because of one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore! What should have only been a week at most without his mother had turned into thirteen years! Thirteen years of being abused by her sister and her horrible husband.

Lily tried to smile warmly as she walked over and knelt next to Harry. She certainly wasn't feeling like smiling but at least her plan had at last unfolded so she could begin to undo all the damage the likes of Petunia, Dumbledore and even Severus had done to her darling boy over the years.

"Muh-muh-mum? Is it really you?" Harry stammered out as she healed up the cut on his arms.

She kissed her son gently on the forehead, "Yes Harry; it's me. I'm sorry I'm late. Thirteen years too late. You can thank the Headmaster for my being a bit…tardy."

"But how? How did you get here? Voldemort killed you?" Harry asked; his eyes wide and wild.

"Yes you ginger bitch! You took my AK to your chest! You died before my eyes! How can you be here?" Voldemort yelled.

Lily stood up and walked over to Voldemort and lightly rested a foot on his chest. With a satisfied look on her face, her smile was smug and vaguely sinister, "So like a man you are Tom even when you broke so much of yourself off. So sure you were the only one to find secret knowledge. So sure you were the only one smart enough to figure out a way to cheat death. How did I survive your AK? The easy answer is I didn't. You killed me that night just as you killed Harry's father."

Both Voldemort and Harry's eyes bugged out comically at this frank admission. Finally Voldemort spat out, "So how did you cheat death?"

Lily laughed musically, "Oh Tom, you still don't get it. I gave you the clues and you still arrogantly refuse to see the simplest answer in front of you. But I will counter your question with a question. How did _**you**_ survive? How is it you are here today?"

"I cheated death in a way no Light witch like yourself could ever understand!" Voldemort snarled.

Again Lily had to laugh. Voldemort was so comically vaudevillian like a bad serial movie villain from her childhood days. All he needed was a long moustache and a perhaps a cat to stroke. Which reminded her of another task she needed to do."

"_**R**__**evelare **__**S**__**erpens**__**!**_" Lily cast. A glow off to her right was met with a _Bombarda_ spell. The glow quickly faded as Nagini died from shards of broken tombstones piercing its brain.

Lily looked back at Voldemort whose already pale skin had gone an even pastier color, "Well that's one horcrux down, yes? One more tether to the mortal realm cut. So where were we? Oh yes, how did I come back from death? Let me ask you this, what does Walter Evan's femur, a pint of Evan Rosier's blood and Severus' foot all have in common?"

Lily almost laughed out loud when both Voldemort and Harry said, "No!" almost in unison.

"Yes Thomas Marvalo Riddle, ickle mudblood Lily Evans figured out from even slimmer clues than you had access to about a way to cheat death. Yet you, just like all the rest of the lazy Wizarding world just read the instructions and went ahead and wrenched your soul apart. Not once did you think to think on the spell, its intent, its consequences and ways to tweak it so you would not be creating an abomination, insulting the very natural order of things and damning your soul in the process."

Lily looked to Harry who looked like he was about to hurl, "Amazing what one can do with a ritual execution of a murderer. Death energy is death energy but the process of how you get it, your intent is what is crucial. You just run on hate, anger, resentment and maybe just a hint of plain old madness. I wanted to save my son from growing up alone. We both took the same road to get here but my vehicle won't damn my immortal soul."

Voldemort was silent as the ramifications of what she had said hit home. Finally he sneered and asked with obviously forced bravado, "So now what?"

"Now you and I are going to duel." Lily said as if she was speaking about taking on the next set in tennis. "Severus, be a dear and fish out Tom's wand out from wherever Peter has it stashed."

"As you wish, Lily" Severus said as he began to check Pettigrew's clothing. In short order he found the twin wand to Harry's own wand.

Her son looked at her in fear, "Mum, no! He's still Voldemort! I can't lose you again!"

Lily looked over at her son and smiled, "My dear boy; have a bit of faith in your mother. I _have_ cheated death. Dealing with this tosser will be easy."

Lily direct Snape to drag Voldemort to the other side of the clearing while she pushed her son towards Pettigrew. Harry merely nodded dumbly as she pressed his wand into his hands and told him Sirius needed Pettigrew alive so he had to protect him. She also conjured a blanket and placed it over the dead Hufflepuff. She also carefully levitated the Cup to a safe place so no one could use it.

Finally she was facing a Voldemort freed from his bonds wearing a conjured robe with Severus between them off to one side hold Voldemort's wand. The strained looked on his face had caused a smirk. Obviously he had not thought her smart enough to erect anti-apparition wands!

"So Tom, here are the rules. Severus will toss you your wand. I will give you 2 seconds before beginning. If you fail to catch your wand, well that's just too bad for you. Are these acceptable terms?" Lily asked.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed but he nodded as he crouched a bit with his arms outstretched and ready to catch the wand.

"Severus, toss Voldemort his wand," Lily called out.

"As you wish, Lily," Snape said as he gave the wand and underhanded toss to his one-time lord.

Like a striking snake Voldemort caught the wand and in one fluid motion cast, "_**Avada Kedavra!**_"

Lily's own wand, however, was already moving, "_**Scutum Vita!**_"

Snape body was flung into the path of the green death. With a emerald flare, her one-time childhood friend was snuffed out in an instant.

That she had done this seem to shock even Voldemort to say nothing of the strangled cry of surprise from Harry. She quickly used this distraction, "_**Mors fulmen!**_"

Voldemort barely managed to dodge the bolt of blackest light. Yet he dodged exactly in the direction Lily had predicted, "_**Telum Glacies!**_"

Still new to his body, Voldemort was unable to dodge a second time as meter long spear of ice struck him dead center and pinned him to a tree.

It took mere seconds for Voldemort to die for a second time.

Lily quickly moved to Harry, "_**Scutum Matris!**_" A dome of pearly white covered her and Harry along with Pettigrew's still unconscious body.

A grunt from Harry told Lily he quickly understood the need for the shield as a dark mist rose from Voldemort's twitching body. It seem to hesitate before disappearing in the surrounding fog.

Lily waited a minute or two before lowering her shield. She looked down at her son who was looking up at her in a combination of fear, pride, concern, and confusion.

Lily smiled wanly, "I take it you have questions, yes?"

**OoOoO**

"Questions?! You're bloody right I have questions!" Harry said as he exploded to his feet which promptly gave out underneath him.

Harry groan and spit out some of the dirt he'd swallowed on hitting the ground. He looked up to find his mother staring at him politely but a bit coolly. For a second he just glared at her as she looked back seemingly unconcerned. Finally he couldn't take the silence anymore, "How can you stand there like that?"

"Stand here in what way, Harry?" Lily said with a slight quirk to her lips.

This infuriated him. The look reminded him of Snape which in turn reminded him why he was so angry, "How you can stand there looking cool as a cucumber when you just admitted using a horcrux, confess to murdering a Death Eater, then murdered Snape!"

"I did no such thing," Lily said with a sniff of disdain.

"I watched you do it!" Harry yelled. "Well at least I saw you murder Snape!"

"I did not murder Snape, Harry. I merely was the instrument of his execution. Something which was long in coming. As for Rosier, well when I captured him he had just murdered two entire Muggle families. Once again I acted as his executioner. I would hope you of all people would understand the difference between killing with cause, killing when there is no other choice or murder." Lily said patiently.

Harry couldn't believe he was hearing this and it must have showed on his face since a look of annoyance crossed her face before she took a deep breath and sighed, "Harry, I know to you it looks bad but you're only 14. No matter all the extraordinary things you have seen, you still are a teenager who has lived a sheltered existence. A wretched existence which I should add was due to Dumbledore's meddling. You were never supposed to end up with Petunia. Even if my plan failed, our wills should have ensured you were fostered out to multiple families. Plus given the Potter name, even if none of the people we named in our wills could take you in, you would have had a regent appointed. Then you would have probably ended up growing up with the Greengrass girls."

Harry's eyes grew wide, "But they're Slytherins!"

Lily snorted, "So was your grandmother, Samantha Greengrass. For that matter so was your great-grandmother Dorea Black. Didn't stop your Potter men from marrying them." Lily tiled her head slightly and sighed again, "I saw a lot in Severus' memories but obviously you have been kept more in the dark than I had expected. You know almost nothing. That will have to change. Of course in can wait till after the procedure I need to do on you."

Harry's eyes narrowed which made them look almost serpentine, "What procedure?"

Lily smiled, "Oh nothing much; just kill you long enough to destroy that piece of Voldemort's soul embedded in your scar.

Harry gaped at this.

**OoOoO**

Lily couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry, Harry; that come about sounding much worse than I intended. While you will be clinically dead for a bit, you will be revived with no worse for wear. Muggle doctors have done it for decades. I spent the last month researching the process to ensure there is no danger to you."

Harry blinked at her while obviously wrestling with all the shocks the night had hit him with. It seemed to her that Harry decided to go with something less wild, "A month? When did you come back?"

Lily nodded approvingly, "A very good question, Harry. You see Severus should have brought me back within days if not hours after my death. Unfortunately Dumbledore cast certain spells on all of the Order to hide your whereabouts. In doing so, he bollixed up some spells I had on Severus. So instead of days, I had to wait 13 years before the danger you were in during the First Task finally broke through Dumbledore's spells."

Harry looked suspicious, "Why would Snape care?"

"Do you know about how Sirius almost tricked Snape into being attacked by Remus?" Lily asked.

Harry nodded, "I found out last year right before I helped Sirius escape."

"I thought so. Good job on getting Sirius free, by the way," Lily said with a smile. "Anyway because James did something atypical and went to help so Remus wouldn't feel the guilt of killing a fellow student, Severus ended up with a life debt to your father. With James' death, that debt passes to you. The conflict between him needing to help you against the dragon and knowing doing so could potentially hurt you via the Goblet of Fire finally broke Severus free of Dumbledore's spells. Once that happened, my spells went into effect and Severus went and did all the things I had preplanned to bring me back.

Harry shook his head, "But mum, why did you do it? Why a horcrux?"

Lily's eyes grew cold at the accusation in her son's voice, "Why? Because unlike your idiot father, I wasn't going to accept Dumbledore's greasy reassurances about why we suddenly needed to leave the ancestral wards surrounding Potter Mansion to go to a small property he owned in Godric Hallow."

Harry gaped like a fish, "Wait, what? Idiot father?"

Lily went on, ignoring Harry's question, "I deduced there was a prophecy. I then took you to the Hall of Mysteries where you were ever such a good baby at grabbing the Prophecy sphere only you and Voldemort could touch. I found out what the Headmaster already knew. You are fated to fight Voldemort at some point in the future. One of you will die while the other shall live on. From the wording, I'm confident it will be you who survives."

Harry's eyes bugged out which in addition to his gaping mouth made the boy look almost comical if the situation was different. "I have to fight Voldemort?"

"Yes you do and your previous Headmaster has known since about when you were a year old. How does it feel, son, to know your whole life has been manipulated by Albus Dumbledore because of the ramblings of Sybil Trelawney?" Lily said nastily.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed.

"That's right, Harry. Dumbledore was the one who heard the prophecy. It was Albus who convinced James to leave the safety of a land's which have protected the Potters since before the coming of the Romans. It was Albus who manipulated your father's ego and fears like a conductor leads an orchestra. Frankly it wasn't that hard given how stupid your father was in many ways. I only married him to get the Potter name." Lily said.

Harry starred at her in shock, his breathes coming out in jagged pants.

"Well that's not totally true. Your dad was a demon in the bedroom, I'll give him that. Of course given how he slept his way through Hogwarts I would hope he picked up a few things besides a record amount of diseases only beaten by Sirius," Lily said thoughtfully.

"What? What are you saying? Why are you telling me this?" Harry said between panting breaths.

Lily smiled sadly, "Oh my boy, my beautiful boy, you've only been told the lies the Headmaster wanted you to hear. Then there is the fact everyone loves heroes. So no one probably had the heart to tell you what a pompous, arrogant arse your father was. Oh I'm sure Severus told you but given his treatment of you, I can understand why you didn't believe him."

The mention of the deceased potion master seemed to snap Harry back to reality, "Wait! You're trying to get me off track. You murdered Snape! I might not have like the git but you just killed him!"

"Of course I did, Harry. I told you before, I was merely the instrument of his execution. Do you know how one gets the Dark Mark, son? You get it through rape, torture and murder. Severus had plenty of blood on his hands before he became Dumbledore's spy. While the Headmaster might feel it convenient to whitewash Severus' many crimes, I could not." Lily said tightly.

"Spy?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you see Severus and I were old friend s from before I knew I was a witch. He in turn fell in love with me before we ever went to Hogwarts. Yet his the likes of Lucius Malfoy were able to use his insecurities and hatred for his abusive muggle father to turn him to the Dark. When he learned Voldemort planned to kill all of us, he begged him to allow me to live."

Harry was shaking his head over and over again like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes son, now you're beginning to see. Severus was fine raping and killing both Magical and Muggles but when his precious love he felt lost to a rival was in danger, he was more than willing to trade your life and your father's so he could have me as his bound toy. When his master refused, he went crying to Dumbledore. If not for the Headmaster's meddling, Snape would have paid for his crimes long ago instead of adding them to you by abusing you in lieu of your father for the last four years," Lily explained.

"How could Professor Dumbledore keep this from me?" Harry finally asked.

"For the same reason he made sure you only heard what he wanted you to hear. Hagrid collected you instead of Minerva given she and Professor Sprout contact all the Muggleborn like I was. Then you just happen to (Lily made air quotes) bump into the Weasleys outside Platform 9¾ even though you should know now they always floo. Sorted into Gryffindor, you were surrounded by the very people most likely to believe in the man, the myth, the legend Albus Dumbledore has carefully crafted since before Grindelwald's defeat." Lily said with a patience she didn't really feel. Her Harry was more steeped in denial than she had realized from Severus' memories.

"But why?" Harry asked again.

"Because, my son, Dumbledore uses people like chess pieces. All of the big houses and important wizards and witches do. I realized this very early on so I decided I was going to play the game by my rules. I wasn't going to let my blood status ruin my ambitions. So I pretended to allow your father to finally court me. Of course he only wanted me because he couldn't have me. He lost a lot of interest in me before we were even married. I think he slept with 3 out of 4 of my bridesmaids before and after the wedding." Lily said with no trace of sadness.

"Dad wouldn't do that!" Harry exclaimed.

Lily snorted, "And how would you know? You only know of your father through people Dumbledore wanted you to know. People who would never taint the image of St. James and Lady Potter, Martyr's to the Greater Good and parents to the Boy-Who-Lived. So easy to speak so well of the dead and forget how they were in life."

"My dad was a good man," Harry said with conviction.

Lily couldn't help but laugh, "Oh my son. Be happy you never met your father so you never got to see what a spoiled pig he was. The only reason he shaped up at all was his father had severe stipulations in his will he had to meet if he wanted to inherit a knut. If not for that, James probably would have drank himself to death or gotten killed in some hare-brained prank with Sirius. He was a joke. A good looking joke who thought the world owed him everything. I married him just to get his seed and his title. I figured any son or daughter of mine would do the Potter name credit instead of being wasted by a wastrel."

Harry continued to look rebellious but Lily could see the seeds of doubt in his eyes. "Harry, your father was a good fighter when he wanted to. He was good in school when it suited him. He was an attentive lover when he was with a gal at first before he inevitably wandered off. He doted on you but for the most part left every part of rearing you to me. He once said he'd show more attention when you were old enough to be interesting. Does that sound like a good father? Your worth was relative to your value to him."

"No!" Harry said softly.

Lily nodded sadly, "I am afraid very much yes. Sometimes I think Sirius acted more like a father to you than James. Of course the first chance he gets he royally messed up by giving you to Hagrid and chasing after Peter. Yet he was always a man of deep passions so in a way I can't fault him. I can fault Remus for never standing up to the Headmaster given he actually knew where Petunia and Vernon lived."

Harry stared at her for a moment before looking down at the ground. Lily knew it was because he didn't want her to see the tears.

"Now perhaps you can understand why I did what I did. Once I heard the prophecy, I talked to my good friend Selene who did a scrying. She said it was ordained James and I would die that Samhain night. So I decided to take precautions. Just because I had to die didn't mean I had to stay dead."

Harry's head came up and there was fire in his eyes, "But Mum, you used Dark magic!"

"And who gets to determine what is dark and light? Good and evil? Dumbledore? The Ministry? The Unspeakables?" Lily said with a Snape-worthy sneer. "No, magic is intent and my intent was to survive Voldemort. To do it I used magic and the death of two evil men. In doing so I set in motion a plan which should have destroyed Voldemort and kept you safe."

"Of course since Dumbledore never told the Order he suspected that Voldemort might have taken steps towards immortality, I didn't realize my efforts would fail. Even so, had he not meddled, I would have been reborn back in 1981 and you would have grown up with me. Dumbledore left you with my sister and that pig Vernon. After all the abuse, the troll, the basilisk and all the rest, you think Dumbledore is still Light and I, your own mother is Dark? Do not be stupid Harry. Labels are made by those in power. If I had succeeded, no one would have said a thing."

Harry seemed stunned by all of this.

Lily reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. She was thankful he didn't pull away. "Son, you have to understand, you must understand that the Magical world is a dangerous, corrupt place. You've seen it. Sirius' case is just one of many. Look how many Death Eaters roam free simply because a little gold changed hands. This is our world and I make no apologies for what I've done to survive it and will continue to do to protect you and other friends."

Harry seemed to perk up at this. Lily knew her son had seen more of the seamier side of the Magical world in his four years she had to do in ten. She decided to give him a choice. "I'm asking you that you give me a chance. Let me show you the other side of our world which has purposefully kept from you. Then make your decision. Think about your friend Hermione. She wants to help house-elves without finding out why they are enslaved. Is she right to go on or should she perhaps stop and get the facts?"

Harry looked back down at the ground before finally quickly answering. "She should get the facts."

Lily squeezed his shoulder, "Cheer up, Harry. You'll never live with the Dursleys again and hopefully we can get Sirius cleared soon. I'll teach you all the things denied you. You have power, wealth and influence as the Potter heir you can't dream of. No matter how much damage my sister and the Headmaster have done, you are so much more of a man than your father to take up the Potter heritage. Just give me a chance."

Harry took a deep breath and met her gaze, "Okay mum, I'll give you that chance."

Lily smiled. "Good! We need to leave. There is a lot to do. I need to get rid of that soul fragment out of you, find out why Selene is still dead. I can't believe both our plans failed! Although it should be pretty easy to get her back just as I was, it could be a bit tricky. Then we need to go to the Goblins and get House Potter sorted out."

"But what about you, mum? You were dead! Your body is buried in Godric Hallow I'm told! How are you going to explain that?"

Lily laughed, "Oh Harry, wizards are inherently gullible. Magic makes the impossible possible so it's easy to manipulate them. I've already destroyed my original remains and substituted a fake. So when people check my cover-story, they'll find my body is fake which will "prove" my story."

"Which is?" Harry asked.

"That I was trying an experimental variant of fulmination to try and breach the anti-apparition wards. The AK tossed me into a pocket of space similar to that inside a bottomless bag. All that was left was my wand and clothing. Sirius simply thought I had been disintegrated like Voldemort's body had been so he made a fake which could be buried. Good old Sirius; wouldn't want his buddy to go into the ground without his wife, right?" Lily said with a smile that those who knew the Marauders in school would recognize.

"But how did you get out?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I'll think of something. Perhaps the danger to you helped me back. Dumbledore will eat that up. He loves that whole 'power of love' theme." Lily said as the smile went back to more of a sneer.

Harry once again shook his head in disbelief.

"Harry, you'll learn. Say the right thing, play on the right worldview and you can get away with anything in Magical Britain. People like Malfoy used it to get away with murder. I'm going to do it and burn down their petty, bigoted system," Lily said with conviction.

She turned to Harry, "And you, my lovely boy, are going to help me do it."

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Again this plot bunny came about because I realized almost everything Harry knows about his parents is sort of what he knew about Dumbledore. Rarely is there anyone who would tell him that perhaps what he's heard about his parents might not be true or at least romanticized after his death. Petunia was an ambitious, status conscious person so why not Lily? Why should the pretty sister not be just as ruthless?

**Where to Go with This**: I have lots of various ideas about where to go with this fic. Many aren't ones which will make it popular with people. First off, Lily is essentially 21, the same age as Tonks. Meteorshipyards made a quip about seducing her own son and my first thought was, "Yuck!" but again if people can see Tonks with Harry, then why not Lily. Now I have a specific reason for why she might want to seduce her son (although she made hide it is actually her) tied to things like shocking Harry into accepting certain realities, Harry looking like James and soon to be imbued with the family magicks. Then there is perhaps using various ways to manipulate Sirius and Remus. Why be content with House Potter when she, the grieving widow, could take solace in the arms of the recently cleared head of House Black?

**Lily as Evil?** No, she's not Dark Lily. She's a woman who has decided she isn't going to abide by the conventions of society and she's going to use her own code. In this way she's similar to Voldemort and Dumbledore. To her mind, however, she's doing it to break open the world. Is she evil for doing it? Perhaps and perhaps not. But we'll get to see her and her old partner Selene (once she gets brought back) go about working to topple the established order. Harry may be the one who decides if their way is good or evil.

**Spells**

_**Scutum Vita**_" = Human shield: pretty self-explanatory

_**Mors fulmen **_= Death Bolt

_**Telum Glacies**_ = ice spear: An old favorite from JBern,

_**Scutum Matris **_= Mother's shield

17


	9. HP and the House of Zod

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person_." – **Tennessee Williams **(American Playwright)

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTE**: Amazingly this came not from trailers of the upcoming _Man of Steel_ film but me changing my Facebook picture to a picture of the old Super Man II Zod with the caption (of course) "Kneel before Zod" – I'm also thinking that I've been reading a HP/DC cross-over featuring Harry as Emrys and Zatana as Arcana probably helped. For the purposes of this drabble I'm going with the canonical year. This probably will change a bit depending how much I want to integrate _Smallville_'s timeline. I will play around a lot with Superman canon to explain the whole yellow sun thing.

**XxXxX**

**CHAPTER ONE – PHANTOM**

**DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES, LONDON, JUNE 4****th**** 1996 – EVENING**

"SIRIUS!" Harry screamed and leapt towards the Veil.

"Harry no!" Remus cried and scrambled forward. Fear and his latent werewolf strength enabled him to grab the distraught teen before Harry threw himself through the Veil.

Nobody in the chamber noticed, however, that Harry's left arm had entered into the Veil before the Lupin dragged the struggling teen away from certain death.

**OoOoO**

The being whose name was whispered in fearful respect throughout 28 galaxies opened his eyes and smiled. He was free from the Phantom Zone at last!

This smile faded as he looked down and saw that he was in his original body. Dru-Zod looked around and frowned. He was in a deeply forested area by a stream. The sky was blue and a yellow sun could be seen peeking through the foliage of the unfamiliar trees.

Was this some sort of fail-safe of Jor-El's?

"Interesting; I had not expected a guest when Harry made contact with the Veil. I would think the makers of the Phantom Zone would have some sort of protocol in place to keep the disembodied away from the portal."

Dru-Zod turned to find a being unlike anything he had seen before leaning against one of the unfamiliar trees. While similar in appearance to a Kryptonian male, this being's skin seem to have a greenish tinge to it. Its naked body was liberally covered in hair. Yet the striking feature was its eyes. They looked like a Kandorian rope-lizard. Yet from its head grew antlers more like a Rimborian fire-deer. The being was also a good foot taller than Dru-Zod who was not a small man.

"Who are you? What is this place? Speak! General Zod commands it!" Dru-Zod said. Unknown creature or not, he was of the House of Zod; he feared little.

The being smiled in a condescending way and in a movement almost too fast to see, had him by the throat and hoisted into the air. Almost the moment the being's hand touched Zod's throat, his brain began to feel is if it was on fire.

"Command all you like. This is my domain and here it is I who will be asking the questions, my arrogant friend," The being said in almost a amused tone.

Dru-Zod tried to struggle but whatever the creature was doing to his brain seem to keep his limbs from working properly. Finally he was reduced to hanging limply in the being's grip.

After what seemed like an eternity of pain, the being gently lowered him to the ground. "The pain will quickly pass. Sadly I cannot sort through your memories without causing pain. So you are Dru-Zod, famous general and rebel from the planet Krypton. Fate seems to enjoy playing with not only Harry but myself. What are the odds you would be one to come through the Veil from the Phantom Zone?" The being began to pace.

Dru-Zod rubbed his throat before carefully sitting up. He was still weak and this creature seemed to have him at an incredible disadvantage. He had to learn more. "Again, who are you? How do you know of me and Krypton? I do not recognize this world."

The being turned and smiled, "What I am is something you may be familiar with. Does the term Heat Demon mean anything to you?"

Dru-Zod thought for a moment, "Jax-Ur had a project trying to harness the power of something called Heat Demons." His eyes narrowed suspiciously, "The Council found out about it and shut down the project '_with prejudice_' according to Jor-El. Later I heard rumors that the Council had moved to keep Krypton safe from an inter-dimensional menace."

The being laughed jovially, "Inter-dimensional yes; menace perhaps only to the stratified hide-bound members of the Kryptonian Council. My people and are from a parallel universe, one much older than this one; one dying from heat death. Long ago my people were like you Kryptonians. In fact we looked rather like you in form as well. We were a proud, scientific people and the apex of our power we transcended our physical forms to ascend into beings of energy."

The being turned and looked down upon Dru-Zod, "You are a proud and arrogant people, you Kryptonians. Justifiably proud due to your accomplishments but it bred an arrogance that somehow you were above the rest. Yet all of your science and philosophy was to my people like that of how a scholar looks at the first scribbling of a child. My race had surpassed yours long before your planet had even formed. I was once like you, strong and proud. Before it lost meaning, my name was Samael and I helped lead my people into ascension. Ask yourself, Dru-Zod of Krypton, how do you think the Council reacted to find out that Jax-Ur was in communicating with beings such as we?"

Dru-Zod scowled. His own pride gave him the answer.

Samael obviously could read this answer on the Kryptonian's face as he laughed again, "Just so! While my people were bargaining in good faith for your help to breach the walls between our respective universes, the Council was afraid. They felt if they helped us escape our dying universe that we would usurp them."

Samael laughed again, "As if we cared for such things! My people had already built an empire spanning much of our known universe. We had moved on from such things even while we were hungry to simply escape and be embodied again. For all our power and knowledge, we wanted to live and feel again. Overthrowing your people and seizing control of Krypton was not something any of us even contemplated in a moment of idle fantasy."

Dru-Zod frowned, "Where are we? Have I crossed over into your dimension?"

Samael shook its head, "No. Myself and hundreds of my people later escaped but in doing so we were without bodies. Trapped as ephemeral wraiths who would soon die out, we had to bind ourselves into host bodies." Samael gestured around him, "All of this? An image or model of this planet in the mind of my host. A host you now inhabit as well. What I find interesting is you are not the first Kryptonian on this planet."

"Which planet is that?" Dru-Zod asked.

Samael's grin turned feral, "One of great interest to a fellow Kryptonian of your acquaintance."

Something clicked in his memory, "Earth!" Dru-Zod exclaimed.

"Yes, the House of El's jealously guarded secret. One, you might be surprised to learn, is in the same solar system as the planet Mars. From your memories I know you remember them! You were there at the battle of Trenzalore where the Tetragrammaton Alliance fought the Host of the Silence. Where the White Martians went through your troops like a reaping scythe only to be brought down in five minutes by the Death Bound of Daxam before they themselves died poisoned by the very air of Trenzalore."

Dru-Zod repressed a shudder. For all he was a soldier, a warrior, a general, even he would rather forget that battle which had decided the fate of three galaxies. It was this battle which helped push him into open rebellion against the Council due to their inept bumbling of Krypton's part in the battle. Even Council apologist Jor-El had been disgusted with his masters that day.

Jor-El!

Dru-Zod got to his feet, "How do you know of the House of El?"

Samael shrugged, "I am not a being to be constrained to lightly. There have been times where my being has been spread far and wide among hosts with powers which amazingly escaped the notice of the Kryptonian probes of this planet. One such host was of a line where the power was dying out. It was this host who met a young Jor-El. While my human host didn't know anything other than the young Jor-El was an alien with amazing powers, I recognized a Kryptonian. When this human died, his son did not have enough of the Blood so I reabsorbed that part of myself."

Samael ran a hand through its bushy beard, "Sad that line ended. I am certain there is some form of Kryptonian technology there. However it is far from here and I haven't had the time to try to work a way for my host to visit."

Dru-Zod was silent but his mind was teaming. Earth! The fabled planet whose yellow sun could bestow godlike powers on Kryptonians without creating the deadly trap which had befallen the Daxamites. What was the point of such powers when in return you were poisoned by such common minerals like lead after the rays of a yellow sun had super-charged your body? For all the reach Krypton had throughout the 28 known galaxies, after the Daxam disaster, colonization was strictly controlled and limited to Argos. No matter how scientists showed that other red sun systems would be safe, the Council forbid almost all space travel. So Krypton's soldiers fought their battles off-planet encased in protective, powered armor they never left till returning to Krypton or via sub-space links to cloned bodies destroyed when no longer needed.

Dru-Zod now understood now the amazement of this Samael. What were the odds he would invade the host body of a being which had had met Jor-El! It had probably been back before Jor-El's Rite of Manhood. He remembered back when they were comrades, Jor-El had made many oblique references to his time when he fell in love with a primitive only to have her murdered in front of his eyes.

Dru-Zod shook his head slightly and his faced tightened into an emotionless mask. There were more immediate issues to deal with. "So am I to be a prisoner here? Am I to be your new entertainment?" He would end himself somehow before he would let himself be reduced to another being's plaything. He was Zod! He knelt before no one!

Samael laughed, "Not at all. In fact it would be difficult for me to keep you here like this. I have only been able to do so so easily because you are disoriented. You have invaded my host, who while a pure soul, has already had his being invaded by another. Your adult spirit will be able to affect some measure of control. Yet due to his innate power, I am thinking you may find him difficult to repress."

Dru-Zod looked Samael suspiciously, "You say I should be able to possess your host yet this does not seem to bother you. Why?"

Samael made a grand gesture. "You are a man of action, Dru-Zod of Krypton. Many hail you as a hero while others label you a monster. To me, you are like so many who have come before and will come after you are dust. This planet itself has seen many like you. While you are a man to be admired for your qualities, in span of time and space, you are not unique. General, tyrant, patriot, hero, monster…none of these labels are new. I do not judge you, Dru-Zod of Krypton because to beings such as I, you can be a hero and monster and be good and bad for the universe. In the end, we all do what we must and hope history does not make show our actions ruined the very dreams we worked so hard to bring about."

Dru-Zod didn't reply. He was a bit surprised. Zod had to admit he rather expected such a celestial being to be far more judgemental as if he was before Rao and having to answer for his mortal actions.

"Know this Dru-Zod, I have one desire. Like you, I want what is best for my people and they are in danger. I am in danger since where once I was safely spread between many bodies, all that I am is now in this body alone. That of Harold Iacomus Potter, known to the people of this land as Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. If I am to survive, he must survive and breed."

Dru-Zod smiled, "And you believe I can assure this survival."

Samael shrugged, "Hero or monster, no one could deny you are a survivor. While I have been holding you here so we can talk, once you leave and take the path into the forest, you will find all of Harry's memories. Time is different here so you will have some time to learn who Harry Potter is before you are forced into a decision. I think you will find many things familiar to you. Like yourself, Harry is of the blood of ancient kings, head of his own House. Like you he has had to struggle. Yet he is unlike you in many ways and sadly they make him vulnerable."

"What sort of decision?" Dru-Zod asked.

"As I said, I doubt even you will be able to fully possess Harry Potter for reasons you will soon learn. Will you continue to force it? Smash down what is Harry Potter to steal his body? Well you have a détente agreement and work together? Or perhaps you and he shall merge and become something greater than the sum of Dru-Zod and Harry Potter."

"I am of Zod; we do not bow down lesser beings," Dru-Zod said proudly.

"But is Harry Potter a lesser being?" Samael said with a cryptic smile. "Don't let your pride blind you Dru-Zod. In many ways your Rao has granted you a second opportunity. I have seen your memories and I would be more inclined to label you a monster. Harry Potter is facing one such as you. A man with a troubled past who sought power, gained it but in the process lost his way and ultimately his sanity and soul. At the end, where were your faithful legions? Your wife and friends?"

Dru-Zod scowled at Samael's condescending tone but kept his tongue.

"Ah so perhaps there is hope for you. Maybe your time in the Phantom Zone helped bring a bit of perspective to you? Yes, I am sure that when you faced the Council with your chin held high you had to wonder how the great General Zod, commander of the hosts of Krypton, had been reduced to two followers who most would see as little more than fanatical lunatics. Again the parallel to Harry Potter is striking. His foe, a Lord Voldemort, also is left with followers which care more for killing than the cause."

Samael moved again with a quickness which startled Dru-Zod. Again the being had him by the throat. "This is your chance, child of Krypton. You had a cause, a House, love and loyalty. Yet you threw it away when your pride got the better of you. When you had to get revenge for what you felt were insults to Zod. You used to passionately fight for what you believed in and you inspired thousands. But soon your pride was more important, your hate of your perceived enemies greater. Now you have another chance and one you need to weigh carefully."

"You think you know all about me, don't you?" Dru-Zod spat out.

Samael smiled while clinching his grip slightly causing Dru-Zod to choke, "Still filled with pride? Well Dru-Zod, perhaps you will think more on my words after you confirm what I tell you. Krypton is destroyed. While the humans have forgotten what the Veil actually is, they did record a signal a host of mine viewed which I knew could only come if Krypton was no more. Given what I know from Jax-Ur and your technology, so much of Krypton was connected through sub-space to great power sources. Whatever destroyed Krypton would create a cataclysm which would wreck the entire system. Thus Argos is also certainly gone. All that is left of Krypton are the Daxamites doomed to death if they leave their planet. How many Kryptonians survived? Are you the last son of Krypton? I doubt it; space-faring cultures are notoriously hard to kill especially ones with advanced cloning technology. So is your pride worth more than your race's very survival?"

Samael cast away Dru-Zod like a toy. He gestured towards a path deeper into the woods, "Go. Harry Potter's memories await you. You will find you are in the body on a primitive planet. One you would sneered at in the past. Yet hidden on this planet is a power which will amaze you. One my people did not harness to millennia past Krypton's technology. A power you will think of as almost magic."

Dru-Zod frowned as Samael laughed like he had made a joke.

Samael gestured again, "Go now and remember. This is your second chance and one for Harry as well. All I ask is you think of House Zod and your pride in that lineage and recognize that Harry has his own House and his own royal lineage. You are alike in more ways than you can know."

"And you?" Dru-Zod said as he picked himself off the ground, "Will you be waiting behind our eyes? Whispering to us? Manipulating us?"

Samael shrugged, "In a sense, perhaps. I have always acted as a 'gut feeling' to Harry. I was already millennia old before becoming trapped on this planet. Given how I want us to survive, I would think you would not turn away my knowledge and powers."

"Powers?" Dru-Zod asked.

Samael made a dismissive gesture, "Something you may or may not find in time. Farewell, Dru-Zod of Krypton. Know that when you wake into this body you will be in the middle of a fight for not only your life but that of Harry Potter's and my own. Fight well and perhaps together we can all achieve our ends. Think on my words, Dru-Zod. Your pride is your greatest weakness. Never forget that no matter how high or low a being may seem, everything in the universe has a purpose in the scheme of things. Allies can be found in the places one would never dream possible. Do not let your pride blind you to this."

Dru-Zod took a startled step backwards as Samael's body grew larger and sprouted wings out of its back. Its skin turned to scales which seemed to shimmer while powerful talons grew from both the fingers and hands. Sharp, boney ridges erupted from out under the skin of its forearms and the horns went from curving backwards to curling forward to protect the head. In all this was a form designed to fight and kill.

"Never forget, Dru-Zod. No matter how much power you have, there is always something more powerful than you," Samael said in a voice deeper and filled with menace. "There may come a time when even you, General Zod, might have to kowtow if only to buy time. Do not let your pride bring you down again."

Samael's form shimmered again to that more like a normal man with long, flowing hair and feathery wings. "I'll be watching," Samael said before he leapt into the sky and with powerful beats of his wings was quickly out of sight above the trees.

Dru-Zod stared into the sky for a moment as he mulled over what Samael had said. As much as it pained him to admit, his pride and anger had gotten the better of him. He had felt many of his followers, even his wife Faora had deserted him when in fact they simply had no stomach for what he had been willing to do to triumph.

Still he was Zod. If the being was right, even after the destruction of Krypton, he remained. As long as he was alive, even in the body of another, House Zod still stood. There was many plots and plans and secrets of Krypton which even the destruction of the planet would not destroy.

Krypton would rise again with Zod as the rightful ruler as it was meant to be.

Zod made off towards the path and the memories of the body he was in. Samael had said this Harry Potter was descended from royal lineage. Perhaps the being was right and they could come to an agreement till Zod knew more.

Pride or no, there was one thing those of the House of Zod would never accept.

Failure

Dru-Zod vowed he would not allow himself to lose control of his emotions again. He was Zod; he would rule and those who stood against him would, in time, kneel before him.

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: I'm not exactly sure where I would like to go with this fic except that I'm trending towards it being less of a HP story and a bit more of a DC/_Smallville_ story sort of set concurrently within the HP world. The big crux is how much is the story going to be Harry doing things with Zod in his had a la Firestorm or more of an eventual merging of Harry/Zod as seen in _Broken Chains_ by **Darth Marrs**. In this fic, instead of what we see in _Superman I_, Zod and crew were deemed so dangerous, they were disembodied before being placed into the Phantom Zone more as shown in _Smallville_.

**Where to Go with This**: I will play around with the timeline (both HP and Smallville) and make this happen prior to Lex being possessed by Zod but also brining the Kandorians in much earlier. One of the things which Zod will do is he is impressed by Harry. Certainly he is has his issues with the teen wizard but he respects his bravery, his loyalty and the fact he is the head of the House of Potter and (as in most of my fics) descendent from the One True King of England. That he has been so abused and mistreated makes Zod angry given how he feels people like Harry should rule.

There will be a bit of being in Harry will tone Zod down. Give his hate a chance to subside a bit so he can go back to being more analytical. That and while in Harry's body he doesn't have Kryptonian powers (and may never unless Brainiac does to Harry what he did to Lex) he now has magic. Given the god-like ability to transform matter, teleport and the like, Zod feels pretty happy with his lot. Plus he still has Major Zod available to continue his own House of Zod bloodline. So he's a pretty happy camper. So the question is will Harry-Zod become a force for good or will all the issues Harry has with the magical world mean that the Ministry's chickens will be coming home to roost?

Sort of have plans for Ron and Lavender to be used as host bodies for Non and Ursa.

The powered armor mentioned is that seen in John Bryne's World of Krypton series as well as a few Superman comics prior to one of the many reboots.

Obviously how the Smallville characters will fit in also remains to be seen. Will this be mostly set in Smallville/Metropolis or England?

8


	10. Fifth World

**DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: **_It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the grace of coffee that thoughts acquire speed, the back acquires strains, the strains become a warning. The warning is that I make no money from this. It is by JKR's writing alone I set my mind in motion. _

**PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER**: "_A beginning is a very delicate time_." – **Princess Irulan Corino **(Daughter to the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV)

**Last Updated**: 07-04-2013

**XxXxX**

**STORY BUNNY NOTE**: You can blame HELLACRE13's story Stolen Legacy (ID 6013584) for this one. However, the concepts are something I've thought about for a very long time even before I knew about fan-fiction. I had always thought of what would happen with a DC/Marvel combination.

Please note that while I collected comics for about 20 years, this was during the 80's and 90's so much of my 'muscle memory' is of that time. That being said, my story would be influenced by the DCAU along with the Marvel Ultimate line. I will also be totally messing up any sort of timeline so pretty much I will explain who is who everyone (especially those not into comics) can keep up.

The basic premise is you have a union of two brought about by a third force. So we have the DC/Marvel universe merging (sort of) due to magic.

**XxXxX**

**PROLOGUE – DISASTER**

**XxXxX**

_**MV ROYAL PRINCESS**_**, AEGEAN SEA, JUNE 6****th**** 1986 – LATE AFTERNOON**

The boy finished cleaning off the sprocket and held it up proudly, "It's done!"

The old engineer looked up from the open panel he was working in and smiled, "And done well I see! You do good work, young Harry!" He took the sprocket and put it back in its rightful place.

Harry Potter beamed at the praise. Unlike his aunt and uncle, Mr. Montgomery was lavish in his praise. Harry had spent most of his time deep in the bowels of the ship with him since the second day of the cruise the Dursleys had won due to him entering a contest he'd seen in a discarded paper. Harry had thought they would like him better if he won. One of his teachers had helped him fill out and mail the form. It was like out of a Robert Dahl book he had read at school when it was announced he had won.

Harry's smile faded as he watched the old mechanic go back to his work. His aunt and uncle were not happy that they had to take him with them on the trip given it was his name on the winning ticket. They had made it clear they wanted to see as little of him as possible. Luckily he had made a friend in Mr. Montgomery early in the trip and he had plenty to eat.

"There, that should do it Scottie old boy," the man said as he flipped a switch and the machine hummed to life. Both man and boy watched for a moment till the mechanic nodded. "Yup, that's how we do it!" He flipped the panel closed, "Come on Harry, let's put these tools away."

"Yes sir!" Harry said as he scrambled to help.

The two bent to their task and soon they were walking down the semi-dark passageway which lead to the small maintenance room Mr. Montgomery worked out of. After putting his tool box away and checking the work board for any new entries and finding none, Mr. Montgomery looked at his watch.

He turned to find the boy sitting in his office chair, spinning himself with childlike glee, 'Belay that young man! How about we go up on deck? I think sunset is in about 10 minutes. You shouldn't be stuck down here and miss something like that."

Harry's face fell, "Well I don't want to be a bother…"

Mr. Montgomery tried not to frown. He knew what the boy was really saying was he didn't want to accidentally be seen by his relatives. Scott was still debating on whether he should talk to ship security or just wait till they got to port and contact Child Services. With a shake of his head he decided it could wait another day. "Don't fret now son. I know a little place out of the way we can look at the sunset and be alone. How does that sound?"

Harry nodded eagerly. He rarely got to see much outside except from looking out porthole windows.

The old man shrugged on a light jacket. Summer in the Med could be chilly in the evening to his old bones. He took Harry's hand and led him through the maintenance areas through the ship. Finally they found themselves on a lower deck near the waterline where many of the vessel's emergency boats were kept. Mr. Montgomery hoisted Harry onto the rail and kept a hand on the boy's belt to ensure he didn't fall.

The two watched as the glowing sun began to kiss the horizon, throwing the ocean into a golden relief of rippling light.

After a moment, Scott began to tell Harry some old Mediterranean legends and sea stories. He had found Harry loved stories and always asked interesting questions. Sometimes _too_ interesting as he found out when he told him the legend of an island filled with Amazon and Harry wondered what the mommies did for fun without any daddies.

He was halfway through a story about his time in the Med aboard a Royal Navy destroyer during the Suez Canal crisis when Harry suddenly pointed into the sky, "What is that? Look! There are more!"

Mr. Montgomery turned back towards the ocean and paled at what he saw. The sky was streaked with what looked like missile trails. Yet the angle and the color of the trailing smoke looked wrong. His heart fell when he realized they might be meteors.

"Mr. Montgomery!" Harry suddenly screamed.

The old man looked up just in time to see something flash out of the sky and smash into the front of the ship. The ship lurched as if it had struck a reef and the entire forecastle ripped apart from the rest of the ship. Scott screamed as Harry was torn from his grasp and thrown into the sea. He only had time to yell Harry's name when another, much larger object struck the ship and smashed it into pieces.

**XxXxX**

**PERSONAL LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER, LONDON**, **JUNE 9****th**** 1986 – LATE AFTERNOON**

_Margaret,_

_I hope this report finds you well as can be expected under these trying circumstances. I can only imagine the insanity going on back at home. I also can imagine what sort of briefings you are getting from the so called experts. You were right to have me look into America's special contacts since I don't think we have anything comparable back in England to describe ,what is being called over here, the Event._

_As far as I can tell, the story told to you by this Albus Dumbledore is correct. If anything he understated the magnitude and scope of the danger given how he was only telling the story from the magical side. Unfortunately there are far more players in this disaster. I will try to summarize as briefly as I can. Please bear with me for it is a fantastical tale. _

_As hard as it is to believe, the current crisis is only partially related to the Dominator led invasion which the joint forces of Earth had only just defeated last week. The Justice League reports that remaining elements of the alien fleet had already retreated prior the Event. However a rogue Dominator scientist managed to detonate a 'meta-gene bomb' with hopes of bringing about more mutations in humanity. The reasons for his actions are unclear at his time as the JLA hasn't had time to fully report on the incident given the quite literal fallout of the Event._

_However the bomb's radiation began to have deadly effects on the North American magical community as this was the closest area to the detonation point. In desperation, they did a massive protection ritual on the fly. At this time it is unknown what caused this spell to go awry. People I've talked to said there are so many variables to really be able to tell at this early stage. Neither any scientist nor the few wizarding folk I've spoken to can say much about cause, only the effect._

_What they can say is that the magical world's seers warnings of impending disaster was mirrored by many of the psi-sensitive operatives used by groups such as Checkmate. Just like in England, almost all magical governments around the world waited till just prior to the time of the disaster to finally contact their non-magical counterparts such as yourself. The desire to keep this Statute of Secrecy intact runs very strong amongst the Magicals it seems._

_Margaret, I know we've both seen some strange things, even more so since you became Prime Minister, but it is only going to get worse. I spoke with the JLA magician Zatana. While using a different branch of magic from the likes of this Albus Dumbledore, she confirms that whatever caused the Event has had two major effects which will directly impact England._

_First, as you were briefed upon taking up your Minister duties, our universe is connected to other planes of existence. At one time the connection was much stronger allowing more traffic between our world and others. From what Zatana explained, this is where many of the hidden races such as the goblins and centaurs came from along with much of the magical flora and fauna. Princess Diana of Themyscira confirmed how some 5,000 ago it was much easier to get to magical realms such as Olympus in Greece or the Faerie realms in England. This connection, one called the Veil Between Worlds by the magical community, has been ruptured by the Event and now who knows what may spill through._

_Secondly, in a bit of cosmic bad timing, it seems our world was targeted for a second invasion by forces belonging to the Apokolips dictator Darkseid. The Green Lantern I spoke with believed Darkseid intended to use the recent invasion of Earth to allow him not only a quick conquest of our planet, but also to the bulk of the alien armada as a prelude to a larger move into our galaxy._

_Forces from New Genesis under the command of Orion where in route to stop this attack. Both sides where using their boomtube technology to gate into Earth's orbit when the Event happened. This set off a chain reaction which caused an immense energy backlash back into both their home dimensions. So while the meta-gene bomb was the trigger, the interaction between the bomb's radiation, the magical ritual coupled with the opening of so many boomtubes is what made up the Event. Suffice to say that the energy released in this explosion killed all personnel in orbit and has effectively wiped all satellites of function. Only the JLA orbital base was shielded enough to survive. Without satellite capability, all governments are operating quite blindly at the moment._

_At this time it is unclear what has happened to Apokolips or New Genesis but the most of the initial damage to Earth came from the remains of both fleets crashing out of orbit. However both the scientists here in concert with the Magicals are warning that energy, possibly mutagenic in nature, is pouring into our world. Most of this is centered on North America where the bulk of Darkseid's forces were targeting due to the larger concentration of meta-humans such as Superman. However there are many other sites around the world which are emitting this energy. Dr. Palmer (the Atom) speculates these sites are boomtube exit point kept open by the inter-dimensional explosion of the Event_

_Bottom line, Margaret, is North America is a mess. It is looking like except for certain areas on both coasts, the rest will have to be evacuated or risk mutation or conflict by whatever come out of the rift. There is still no clue what the large blue sphere which appeared shortly after the Event near Denver is._

_Closer to home it is looking like is that all magical will have to flee and it looks like most will be coming to the UK due to the Hogwarts Barrier's protection. However Zatana told me there may have been a reason that British Magical Ministry did the ritual (the proper one and getting it right unlike the Americans) which created the Barrier before consulting with your Government. It seems while it will protect Magicals from the effects of the meta-gene bomb, it will also attract more of the magical energy coming into our plane of existence._

_To me it looks like British Isles are not only going to be overrun by North American Magicals refugees but more magical flora and fauna may come through this Veil Between Worlds as well. What place will there be for non-magical people in this new England? We can't even nuke Hogwarts to destroy the Barrier as I have been told the resulting magical explosion would kill everyone on the Isle as well as a good portion of France and Norway!_

_Margaret, I don't envy the decision you and the Queen have to make. While I certainly do not want the British people to become refugees like the bulk of Americans and Canadians soon will be, I fear we would become a sort of subject race to the Magicals. They already had a civil war which ended three years ago with a faction which saw "Muggles" as a lower order. What will happen when more of them show up? Plus while it seems other magical communities around the world are putting up their own Barriers, it requires certain places of power and many areas of the world lack them. So we may also be getting magical immigrants from these places as well! With so many wands pointed at us, how will England prevail?_

_I will try to contact you with more as I learn more. Expect more technical data by courier a day after this missive arrives. I wish I had more to tell you. Good luck and may God save you and the Queen and may He watch over England in these darkest of times. Stout heart Margaret; faith and unity will get us through this._

_Your Aide and friend,_

_Adam Sutler_

**XxXxX**

**SOMEWHERE IN THE AEGAN SEA, JUNE 9****th**** 1986 – EVENING**

Harry could take no more. The thirst was killing him.

He had been floating on a piece of a smashed lifeboat for three days and while he had managed to stay out of the hot sun by using a plastic tarp he found floating nearby early his first day, the thirst was murder. The lack of food he could cope with for a bit longer. The Dursleys had trained him well in having to go without food for long periods.

It also didn't help both his left arm and leg hurt. At first it wasn't so bad, but now the pain was constant and made him want to do anything to end it even the unthinkable.

The unthinkable was currently swimming around him in lazy circles. Harry thought perhaps some of his blood from a deep scratch on his left arm had trickled off into the water while he slept. Whatever the reason, the fin of the large shark moved past him. It had already nudged the raft Harry twice as if to see if Harry would slip into the water.

Harry watched the fin and tried to decide if he'd rather die quickly and painfully by being eaten by a shark or to die slowly and painfully by his injuries and thirst. For some reason the idea of being eaten by a shark seemed more appealing than being pecked at by birds as he slowly died. Twice already a seagull had taken an experimental stab at his flesh while he dozed before he chased them off.

Seeing the flock of birds circling his raft, Harry decided the shark would be quicker. He pushed the tarp off him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Poseidon's minions do not kill as fast as you believe they will."

Harry turned in surprise to see a man with olive skin which contrasted shockingly with his bright blond hair. He was wearing an outfit which Harry couldn't place but it sort of looked like a cross between a tunic and armor. The man (was he a man?) was wearing a funny helmet with little wings coming out on both sides. He had a stick of some sorts in his hand. He was sitting cross-legged almost where the boat submerged into the water.

"Who…who are you? Are you even here? Am I dreaming?" Harry stammered out when he realized that the being was actually hovering slightly above part of the smashed raft.

The man laughed, "Yes I am here and yes you are mostly dreaming. You think you are making a rational choice to end it all but your scar is affecting your thinking."

Harry's hand flew up to his scar, "My scar?"

The man pointed the stick at him. Harry saw that it had a stylized snake wrapped around it. "Yes Harry, your magical scar. It contains a piece of a very evil man. A piece which wants to leave you so it can merge back with the rest of itself since the rules have changed drastically in the last few days."

"I don't understand," Harry said.

"Of course you don't. You were not fated to learn of such things for many years to come. However Fate's tapestry of threads has been smashed as thoroughly as if the Cretan Bull had stampeded through it. You had an important destiny back in England. Now? Who knows? I am not sure even mighty Zeus can say with any certainty. Whatever the case is, you are near our Realm now. Children of Destiny are always interesting to watch so I thought I would speed you to a better place. Perhaps you will still fulfill your destiny or you will find Fate looks elsewhere giving you back your freedom. Perhaps you will be part of something greater; a grander destiny" the man said playfully.

"Destiny?" Harry asked plaintively.

"Hush Harry James Potter. Now is not the time for your questions," the man said as he touched his staff to the top of Harry's head. Instantly Harry's eyes drooped and he slumped back against the floor of what was left of the raft.

Hermes stood and hovered over the sleeping boy. He waved his Caduceus first at the circling shark and then at the birds, "Away! He is not for the likes of you!"

Hermes watched the fin quickly disappeared as did the squawking birds. Soon the God was surrounded by a rippling in the air. As it passed, Hermes was greeted by the site of a beautiful paradise of an island. He smiled. Of all of Gaea's lands, Themyscira was Her best work.

Hermes rose into the air and tapped his Caduceus onto the raft, "A little nudge for you Harry. Learn well the lessons the Amazons will teach you. I know not where your path leads young one, but there is a smell of greatness upon you. I will be watching."

In a streak of brilliant light, Hermes sped off towards Olympus leaving the raft to edge closer to the beaches of Themyscira.

**OoOoO**

"Come on Raven, live a little!" Cassie said to her friend as their ponies' hooves splashed in the surf of the beach. Her white tunic and sandals was in stark contrast to her friends dark clothing and cloak the other wore no matter how hot the day.

Raven turned and glowered at the young blonde from under her purple cowl. "Fun is a luxury I cannot allow myself. The consequences are too high."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, I've heard it all before. 'Oh no! My father is Trigon! I could help him destroy the world!' It gets really tiresome."

Raven scowled, "You do not understand. How could you?"

Cassie mock scowled back, "You're right; how could I? To do so would require me to have a powerful, other-worldly parent. Someone like…I don't know maybe _**Zeus**_?"

Raven scowl deepened and she turn away.

Cassie sighed, "Come on Raven. Your father does not define your fate. Look at Diana or Donna! Their father, if you can call him that, is Hades himself! You don't Diana is going to fly off and try to take over the world for Him do you?

"Of course not," Raven replied.

"Isn't the whole point of you being here is to help you learn control? Trust me, the Amazons know all about control. Their methods are going to be different than what you were used to in Azarath, but the Gods would not have allowed you here if they couldn't help."

"Trigon is powerful. From what my mother fears, even your Gods may not be enough to…" Raven's voice trailed off.

"Raven, what is it?" The blonde asked.

Raven pointed, "Look there. It looks like more ship debris."

Cassie turned to where Raven was pointed. Sure enough there looked like a smashed lifeboat washed up on the beach. There had been a lot of it of late and the Queen had been frantic about the reason. They had not been told anything but Cassie knew it had to be bad given how the Queen had pulled her aside and told her that her mother and the Embassy staff would be returning to the island soon.

She squinted. While she might not have all the powers of the Princesses, the daughter of Zeus had better sight than most humans.

She gasped as she saw the wind blow a tarp away from the body of what looked like a young boy. "There is someone there! Come on!" She spurred her horse onward.

"Cassie, wait! Queen Hippolyta said to let the Elite deal with any debris!" Raven yelled after her.

Cassie ignored her new friend. While only being on Themyscira for two months, Raven seemed incapable of anything resembling spontaneity. She followed all the rules rigidly and without question. Cassie, however, was not going to let even the Queen's orders keep her away from her find. The boy might be dying!

She pulled up sharply on her reins and leapt off the horse in a spinning leap which would put the best acrobats to shame. She pulled the tarp off to find a small boy. It was hard to gauge how old he was but Cassie was happy to see his chest fall raggedly.

Cassie turned to Raven as she and her horse trotted up, "He's alive!"

To Cassie's surprise, Raven dismounted and moved towards the boy as if mesmerized. The girl touched a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and frowned. She then moved her hand to the top of the unconscious boy's head.

"Raven?" Cassie asked.

Raven was still for a moment. Finally she looked up at the young blonde, "This boy has been touched by a great evil. Here," Raven pointed to the scar. "Yet I sense he has recently be touched by something else. Something that reminds me of the places of power here on the island."

Cassie frowned, "Are you saying the Gods brought him here?"

Raven returned the frown along with a furrowed brow, "I do not know enough of your Gods to say. Yet it may be so since the power feels good and warm. Very different from the cold, wet evil lurking behind that scar."

"Can he travel?" Cassie asked. She knew from an safety video she had seen at school in Boston prior to being brought to Paradise Island about not moving injured people.

Raven turned back to the prone boy and muttered in a language Cassie couldn't recognize. The boy's body seemed to gleam orange with red along his left side. Raven nodded, "He is injured but mostly he has been without food and water for days. He can be moved if we do it carefully."

Cassie gently picked up the boy and carefully laid him on the back of her pony. Raven muttered another spell, "That should keep him from falling off. We cannot go very fast; it is merely a cantrip."

Cassie laughed, "Only you would think such magicks being so small." She tugged on the reins as she led the pony towards a path which would take them to the Hall of Healing. She wished she could fly like Diana or Donna. However she had been told she had a few years before this power would manifest in her.

Raven seemed to shrug, "I have seen great magicks back on Azarath. I have only begun my magical journey." The pale girl looked at the boy with an odd look on her face.

"What?" Cassie asked.

"I do not know. I just feel that the boy will journey with me into magic."

Cassie looked at the boy. He didn't seem much. Scrawny and short. Yet Raven was barely a slip of a girl herself and she already had power. Perhaps there was more to this boy than first met the eye.

**XxXxX**

**PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE, LONDON, AUGUST 15****th**** 1986 – EVENING**

The room was quiet as the man in the odd blue unitard finished speaking. All around the large conference table, everyone to the head of the table where an older woman pondered what she had heard.

Finally the Prime Minister spoke, "So Dr. Richards, simply put it will get much worse before it gets better?

Reed Richards nodded, "I believe so, yes. This planet is now a juncture of unstable wormholes to other dimensions. This on top of the chaos our arrival brought. Sadly it seems whatever the blue sphere was which brought us here, it made the tear in the fabric of space-time a bit bigger. It may be that it was because the energy was from my home dimension which interacted poorly with all the different energies at play since the Event."

"Will your people being here make things worse?" the Prime Minister asked. Around the room, many leaned forward to hear Richard's reply.

Surprisingly after such a concise briefing, Richard's shrugged, "We are still trying to sort out that mess, Madam Prime Minister. It all happened so fast. Thanos, a cosmic villain on order with this Darksied had control of the Infinity Gauntlet and was seconds from wiping out our Earth from existence. From what we can piece together is my son's incredible psionic power called out to a artifact of incredible power: the Cosmic Cube. The Cube, which is believed to be a egg of a cosmic being or a vessel of power created by Odin of Asgard, reacted to my son's terror and quickly gathered up things my son felt was important. I believe he may have also read the minds of others to save as much as he could."

Albus Dumbledore turned to the Prime Minister, "If I may, Dr. Richards?"

The meta-human scientist nodded.

"Madam Prime Minister, if Dr. Richards is correct that this Cosmic Cube might be an artifact of the Gods and thus magical in nature, then the results we have seen may make more sense. Often times throughout our history we have seen magic work mysteriously as if sentient or guided by a higher power. With the immense cosmic power Dr. Richards spoke of in regards to this Infinity Gauntlet, it seems very possible that other artifacts of power would respond."

Richards nodded, "Given how the entire Asgardian realm was part of what was pulled here with us, it is very possible the Cube was a sort of fail-safe. Unfortunately with all the interference, all Thor can say is that Asgard and adjoining realms fused into the higher realms here, such as Princess Diana's Olympus. However Thor has been unable to contact his people yet."

"How is it that so much of your world has manifested as it has?" asked the head of the Ministry's science team.

Richard's shrugged again, "Again it is too soon to tell. The only consolation is that the Cosmic Cube acted through my son's desire to protect us. However his childlike desire is being made manifest in unpredictable ways."

"How so, Dr. Richards?" Prime Minister Thatcher asked in a tired voice. So much had happened since the Event and sleep was something she rarely got enough of.

Ted Kord, from the American contingent, answered, "What Dr. Richards is saying is that this Cosmic Cube is trying to integrate the pieces of their Earth onto ours without too much disruption."

"Without too much disruption? Are you hearing what you are saying?" interrupted one of generals on the British side of the table, "My God man! An entire copy of Long Island appears across from Gotham island! There is a land filled with dinosaurs in Antarctica! There is an entire new country wedged between Italy and Yugoslavia! How is that not chaos incarnate?

"What Dr. Kord means, General, is that the Cosmic Cube could have overwritten this world's version of Long Island with the one from my world which would have wiped out millions of people. So far, everything we have seen as the results of the Cube's actions before it disappeared has been relatively benign," Richards explained.

The Prime Minister looked at one of her new advisors, "How much as England been affected by this Captain?"

Captain Britain hesitated for a moment before answering, "It is difficult to say, Madam Prime Minister. While I am native to the same world as Dr. Richards, my connection to England seems to be unaffected. However with so much otherworldly energy in play, it is difficult to tell. The Hogwarts Barrier is not making it any easier. However it seems England has so far been unaffected except for the increase in magical animals and plants as was expected."

"So we have escaped much of this Cube's seeding then?" asked one of the other Generals.

"It would appear so. I do feel the Hogwarts Barrier is helping deflect change. However it may also be that much of the same magic on my world prevented such things being scooped up by the Cube to be saved. Sadly the very magicks which protected my England may have kept it from being saved before it was destroyed by Thanos." Captain Britain said with bitter irony.

"So what is to be done?" The Prime Minister asked. It was a question the Queen had been asking her for weeks.

Albus Dumbledore leaned forward, "Madam Prime Minister, while the world is in a state of near panic, I understand Her Majesty and your Government is concerned by the increase in the magical population. Sadly I cannot give any guarantees as our last war showed the divisions among my people. However in speaking with the Americans, I believe we may have a possible solution."

"And what might that be Chief Warlock?" Thatcher asked.

Dumbledore motioned to the bald man in the wheelchair who sat a bit apart from the table. "I shall let Professor Xavier explain it."

"Professor?" Thatcher prompted.

Charles Xavier took a quick sip of the excellent tea in front of him before replying, "Madam Prime Minister, you are worried about how both Magicals and normal humans will interact. On my world I worked on a similar problem except in relation to mutants or others with meta powers. While my school still exists in Westchester, I believe it would benefit England were I to set up a mirror school at Hogwarts."

Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was the head of the Prime Minister's new magical protection detail spoke up, "How would that be possible, Professor? The magic around Hogwarts is heavy and interferes with almost all forms of electronics."

Xavier nodded, "That is very correct. However we have already field tested some of our alien Shi'ar technology which we have found will counteract the severe magical interference to electronics. In addition it seems while the Hogwarts Barrier has kept most of England intact, my colleague Dr. Moira McTaggert's lab on Muir Island in Scotland was copied here. So between a branch of my school at Hogwarts and the Muir Island lab already set-up to deal with meta-humans, we could work to help protect future generations."

"How is this school going to protect England?" Thatcher asked.

Dumbledore glanced at Xavier who nodded, "I have long believed our magical community has been separate for too long. Many still think Muggles are a hundred or more years behind where they actually are. Professor Xavier's institute will help us educate the next generation of magical children of the greater world. Now that the Statute of Secrecy is broken, we Magicals need to learn to adapt and take out place in the world. We cannot do that if we continue to believe the bulk of humanity is still living somewhere in the 18th century."

Xavier nodded at this and continued, "In addition, Madam Prime Minister, the Hogwarts Barrier seems to be doing the best job of preventing the after effects of the meta-gene bomb. It may be that the normal humans of England may yet be the best repository of unaltered human DNA on the planet. It must be protected. No matter that I am a mutant myself, I believe that a large repository of regular human DNA is essential for the health of all of our species, be they homo sapiens, home superior or homo magnus."

Around the table, heads nodded at this.

Xavier made a gesture towards the Chief Warlock, "You have legitimate security concerns regarding magical just as many do about meta-humans. However it seems there is a higher level of trust towards them on this world than there was on mine. So I believe that meta-humans can be that reassurance against renewed hostility from elements in the Magical community. As dangerous as a wizard such as Albus Dumbledore is, I could easily rob him of his ability to cast spells rendering him harmless."

"Just as I could turn him into a frog," Dumbledore said reasonably. "Charles has told me how Muggles on his world feared mutants. With so many new meta-humans, heroes and villains, from their world here along with the projected increase due to the meta-gene bomb, Muggles may soon fear the meta-humans as well."

Charles nodded, "Both Magical and Mutant can be seen as a check against the other. We also want to integrate the two so neither side sees the other as a rival or threat."

Prime Minister Thatcher turned to Richards, "And you, Dr. Richards; what is your opinion of this?"

Richards frowned and gestured to the JLA representative Hawkgirl, "I have been in consultation with the JLA as well as with members of the Avengers. So far the consensus is the bulk of North America will become a mutagenic wasteland. A free-for-all where elements from other dimensions interact along with magical elements coming through the gateways. Our best guess says the majority of the openings created by the Event will remain for at least a year and the so called Veil Between Worlds will remain thin. Therefore I expect the meta-human population there to increase dramatically. Additionally meta-human emergence will increase across the world. I believe Professors Dumbledore and Xavier are correct in working on a long-term solution to integrate both populations."

"It is also our thought to train normal humans who show great promise at this school. Too often budding geniuses are not allowed to reach their full potential. So we would have the cream of humanity learning hand-in-hand with meta-human and magical human," Ted Kord added.

Captain Britain spoke up, "As much as the current chaos is incredibly disruptive, the British Isles seem to be a calm in the eye of a worldwide storm. It seems fitting we be the place to train the future to deal with the aftermath of the Event."

The Prime Minister nodded at this. It seemed England would prevail as her friend Sutler was fond of saying.

Dumbledore frowned but covered this by popping a lemon drop into his mouth, "Madam Prime Minister, there is something else. In my employ is a seer who has made many predictions which I have found to be accurate. Before coming here she made this prediction.

_What was once one was rent apart_

_What was two now becomes as one_

_From First to Fourth, to the Source depart_

_In fair Albion, the Fifth has begun_

"What does this mean?" Thatcher asked over the sudden murmuring of all around the table.

Hawkgirl gestured to speak. At the Prime Minister's nod, she stood, "The JLA was told of a similar prophecy by Doctor Fate. We believe the line 'From First to Fourth' refers to Apokolips and New Genesis, both together made up what they called the Fourth World. Both planets came about after being torn apart early in the life of this universe. The Source is also connected to both. Doctor Fate believes that a new Fifth World is to begin here on Earth."

Thatcher blinked at this, "So '_in fair Albion_' you say?" She looked at the Chief Warlock and then at the Professor Xavier, "Perhaps your plan to unite humans, meta-humans and magical humans is more important to the future than you had thought. I shall inform the Queen."

All around the table rose with the Prime Minister. As the group broke up into small groups talking about the meetings startling revelations, the Chief Warlock made his way to the wheelchair bound mutant.

"Well Charles, it would seem you and I will be seeing a lot of each other," Dumbledore said genially.

"Yes it would seem so. It is odd, after years of teaching my X-Men, I never dreamed my student body would ever be what is in our future." Xavier replied.

Dumbledore nodded, "Let us pray for all of our sakes we are up to the task. I believe there are many dark years yet to come before the Light shall prevail"

The old wizard turned away to gaze at a picture of the Queen above where the Prime Minister had sat. The crown on Elizabeth's head reminded him of the many silvery objects in his office. Many which either no longer functioned or performed oddly.

Dark days indeed if he could not locate Harry Potter, Dumbledore thought to himself.

**XxXxX**

**A/N**: Lots of stuff right up front. Probably overload for many but I think it gives enough of an intro to lay the ground work before leaping till Harry has to go to Hogwarts. Right now I'm thinking he will not go till the Tournament (which will be different than the Tri-Wizard Tournament due to it being a competition between human, mages, meta-humans from the different schools) but have to come due to the Goblet of Fire.

**Where to Go with This**: So what will Harry Potter be like when raised by Amazons? What will Hogwarts be like when it combines the Xavier Institute and the Ultimate's Baxter Building Project? How will Pureblood react when the student body includes the likes of the Teen Titans and New Mutants? Sort of hard to be all Malfoy uppity when you risk a batarang between your eyes or having your worst fears made manifest.

Now that things have gone totally kablooey, where does Voldemort fit in all of this? One hint, he had no body and a certain bad guy got blown up during the Event but just getting blown up isn't enough to kill this person. A combo of both means WORLD CLASS THREAT. Yet even with Fate's threads all messed up, Harry Potter still has a destiny to complete!

**Student Body**: Will still be the canon group along with a OC's from North America among other places. It will also include lots of budding geniuses as seen in the Ultimate version of the Fantastic Four. Then there will be the Xavier Institute Students which focus on meta-humans (not just mutants) along with select 'normals' like Robin, Spoiler, or Night Thrasher. Given how "Classic" Marvel timeline started in the late 60's, it makes sense that people like Spider-Man would have children Harry's age so instead of Spider-Man, we might see his daughter May who has powers like that of Spider-Man 2099.

On the DC side, I will fiddle around a bit. The original Titans (minus Raven – will have to replace her with someone else who could have brought the team together) have started to replace the JLA while older members move on to other things as well as raising families. So most of the DC "kids" will be more like the current Teen Titans/Young Justice types.

The Avengers will cease to exist as their heroes integrate into the JLA. Unfortunately for everyone, the Cosmic Cube felt heroes need their villains so it sucked all of those to the new world along with the Atlanteans, Inhumans and Eternals/Deviants. So lots of super-types in the mix. Most of the younger "Marvels" will mostly be mutants. I will take some characters and fiddle with them to be make them children of the older characters. In this I am very much influenced by _John Byrne_'s **Generation** series. So Marvel Boy/Justice would now become Captain America's son just as Firestar is the granddaughter of Toro.

15


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